Migrant Crisis: Britain And France To Agree Deal

While France and Britain have tried to present a united front in tackling the crisis, the issue has strained ties between the two.

The organised criminals are offering a range of “package deals” to smuggle them into Britain.

Mrs May and Mr Cazeneuve will sign an agreement between their two countries reinforcing the security at the site and the joint effort against the criminal networks behind human trafficking and illegal immigration.

For around £300 migrants are given help finding trucks on which they can stow away.

They include increasing security protecting the Eurotunnel “as a matter of urgency”, extra mobile French policing units, and UK resources to secure the Eurotunnel perimeter through fencing, CCTV, floodlights and infrared technology.

The deal also aimed at improving humanitarian situation with the contributions by associations and local authorities “particularly to protect the most vulnerable people“, the ministry said in a statement.

Up to 5,000 people are estimated to be in Calais.

The EC’s Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the first instalment of a special grant would now be sent to help Paris deal with its side of the crisis.

Eurotunnel said earlier this week that the number of migrants trying to break into the Channel Tunnel undersea rail link in Calais had fallen to around 150 a night, down from a high of 2,000 at the end of July.

However, concerns have been raised that closing off openings at Calais will prompt migrants to attempt to make the crossing by different routes.

“We heard that one guy died and we know it’s very unsafe, but there is not another way to go the UK”, he said.

“This remains an EU problem”.

In a joint editorial for this week’s Sunday Telegraph, the French and British interior ministers warned that “our streets are not paved with gold” as Cameron’s government seeks to dispel any perception that migrants have a soft landing in Britain. “If we do not take control urgently, by the end of the year we could easily see the number of migrants reaching Europe equivalent to the populations of both Malta and Luxembourg combined”.