EXPLOSIVE : France spends UK cash to combat illegal migrants, on microwaves, hoovers, and riding boots

Over £0.7bn of UK money to stop illegal boat migrants is funding a nice life for the gendarmes

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

Brexit Facts4EU.Org presents the sorry tale of how the UK has (literally) been taken for a ride

Using documents from the French Interior Ministry we can reveal how £0.7bn of British taxpayers’ money is being used by the French in ways that were never intended by the UK Government. We are also indebted to Politico Europe, a normally pro-EU, anti-British publication, for their FoI request which revealed more. This is a scandal of more than cross-Channel proportions.

The information from the ‘Ministre de L’intérieur et des Outre-Mer’ (the equivalent of the UK’s Home Office) clearly shows how UK money has funded lifestyle choices for the French police force.

We have reviewed a 47-page French government document on ‘Immigration and Asylum’ (in French) and can now summarise for readers how money from the British people to prevent illegal boat crossings has been used in ways that were never intended. This is augmented by Politico’s important Freedom of Information request.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

British money frittered away in France

Latest financial commitment by UK to France : €540.3m for 2023-2026 (c.473m GBP)
France admits most boat migrants are from the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southern Asia
France’s entire spend on illegal immigration across all its borders this year : €260.7m (c.£228m GBP)

[Source : French Interior Ministry.]

Here is the evolution of British payments to France, for it to police its own border

2015-2021 : £176 m
2022 : £62 m
2023 : £124 m
2024 : £167 m
2025 : £183 m
TOTAL £712 m

[Sources : French Interior Ministry and UK Government.]

NOTE: We do not believe that the above represents the full total but we have listed the sums which we can identify from official documents.

So what are the French spending the UK’s money on?

Thanks to a Freedom of Information request by Politico Europe, we now know how the French have been spending the UK Government’s money.

French authorities have spent UK money aimed at preventing migrants from crossing the English Channel in a wide variety of ways, some of them reasonable, others less so.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Here is a list of some of the ways the British money is being spent

Microwaves, vacuum cleaners for cars, and car adapters for charging devices
£130,383 to set up a horse brigade in the baie de Somme
Buying riding boots, helmets and care for the horses
Policing the border with Italy, 900 kilometres from the English Channel
Buying vehicles, printers and drones for this Franco-Italian border
Transport — including helicopters, cars, motorbikes, e-scooters and quad bikes
Binoculars, drones, dash cams, hunting cameras, endoscopes, and software

[Source: Politico Europe Freedom of Information request to the French government.]

Suella, eat your heart out

The language in the French document on immigration is strong - worthy of Suella Braverman. For example:

“In terms of the fight against irregular immigration, the State’s response to foreigners constituting a threat to public order has been given priority treatment.”

Observations

How on earth did we get here?

It seems extraordinary that all of this started back in 2015, under our new Foreign Secretary David Cameron's watch, when he was PM. It was further compounded by Theresa May in 2018, with the revised 'Sandhurst Treaty', and has been exacerbated by the latest Anglo-French agreement in March of this year.

We believe most voters will be outraged to learn that the UK has committed £0.7bn to fund the French in doing what they should be paying for themselves. At the very least the Government should have secured a promise from the French that they would take back all their illegal migrants in return for all this cash from the British taxpayer.

Instead, we have President Macron repeatedly refusing to take back his illegal migrants, claiming that this is a matter for the EU Commission.

Give us strength....

We must get reports like this out there

Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily. However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It's quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 48 hours. Thank you.

[ Sources: French Interior Ministry | UK Government | Politico Europe Freedom of Information request ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 19 Nov 2023

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 8

1. Sparky , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 07:02:

And directly related to Brexit and the incompetence of this Brexit Govt.

2. NH , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 10:55:

1. Sparky , "And directly related to Brexit and the incompetence of this Brexit Govt."
How do you manage to come up with this strange rational ? The Brexit Government we voted for is no longer there, most of the Brexit supporters have been pushed out and Rishi Sunak has just appointed a lead Remainer to be the unelected Foreign Minister. Do you not understand the concept of an Independent Nation ? We get to make our own decisions. The fact that this Government is unwilling to take the necessary actions to control our own borders has got nothing to do with Brexit.
.
The recent request from the EU to increase the budget included an additional 15 Billion Euros for the cost of migration. This is just the increase not the core cost. If we were still in the EU we would be paying approximately 2.25 Billion Euros of this increase. In addition we would be a main location for the EU to send unlimited numbers of migrants to and we would still have the problem of channel crossings with no possibility of stopping them.
.
Other independent nations have managed to stop illegal boat migration by taking the necessary Government actions. Now we have left the EU we can do the same we just need to elect a Government that's willing to Govern the country.

3. terence patrick hewett , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 11:28:

Fraudulent conversion of monies provided by the UK is simply the French being French: just a part of the criminal enterprise that is the EU. The idea promoted by Sparky, that rejoining this gang of mafiosi, is somehow a solution to the scams perpetrated by EU, is laughable.

4. Gazzablack , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 11:44:

1 s
In what way is it related to Brexit?
.
Oh of course, the UK has become an even more desirable place to live.
.
Meanwhile in Spain
More than a million people gathered in Madrid to protest against PM Sanchez decision to issue an amnesty to the Catalan separatists and form a government with their help.
Over 50 retired Military officers are calling for the army to remove him.
Civil war in the offing?
A military junta at the heart of the EU in prospect?

5. jon iivesey , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 17:41:

1. Sparky , "And directly related to Brexit and the incompetence of this Brexit Govt." Complete nonsense. This is a bilateral agreement with France, and not with the EU. And we would be looking at a similar agreement even if we had not left the EU. This is "directly related" to geography, not to Brexit.

6. LuxuryBalloon , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 18:39:

It is very disappointing that the number of illegal immigrants crossing the channel in dinghies has increased exponentially since Brexit.

7. Adam Hiley , Sunday, November 19, 2023, 19:05:

The incompetence is down to the Conservatives inflicting another unelected PM on the British People We should of gone to World Trade Organisation rules but Theresa May and her fellow Remoaners thought they knew best if it wasn't for the fact that the opposition Labour party is even Worse than the current Government says a lot about the state of British politics I would be very in favour of a new Government We are stuck with 4 abysmal Political parties the Lib-Lab-Con-SNP at least I am glad to have joined the Social Democratic Party in 2019 for goodness sake Conservatives get your act together and throw out Sunak and Hunt before We get a horrendous Labour administration led by Starmer Rayner Miliband and Lammy

8. Ashley Great Britain , Monday, November 20, 2023, 07:15:

The EU and especially the french are accustomed to taking uk money. It was always part of the plan. The sad fact is the uk's complicit Gov is continuing to enable all of this.
The boats keep coming and we keep giving money because its designed to be like that.

Add comment:

Please note: Your email address is never published unless you choose to enter it.