Is Braverman’s French Channel migrant deal a sign of progress?

Is the deal struck between the UK and French governments on policing Channel crossings really going to make a difference? MPs don’t seem to think so, with Suella Braverman getting a rather chilly reception from her own side in the Commons this afternoon. The Home Secretary signed the deal this morning, and returned to tell Home Office Questions that this was a ‘step change and a step forward’. But she also admitted, after criticism from Tory MPs, that it was important not to ‘overplay’ what it meant. 

Braverman was criticised by Dover MP Natalie Elphicke, who said: ‘Regrettably the modest French agreement falls short of what is needed to address the scale, the impact and urgency of the crossings. We don’t need more observation: we need action taken on the French side. For even today, as the ink was drying on the new deal, small boats crept through the sea mist and one even landed on a beach in a residential coastal village in my constituency.’

The Home Secretary replied: ‘As I said, I’m not going to overplay this agreement. It’s a very important step forward. I think it provides a very good platform from which deeper collaboration can be secured, but it does represent progress.’

Other Conservative MPs, including Luke Evans, complained about unsafe conditions for asylum seekers who were being housed in hotels in their constituencies. There are MPs who are angry that hotel bookings are too luxurious, that they are not safe, or that said bookings are being made at all. The Home Secretary cannot win politically on this, or on Channel crossings – which is presumably why normally she likes to paint in primary colours on an issue that requires attention to detail and nuance.

In Bali, Rishi Sunak refused to commit to the new arrangements driving down the number of migrants crossing the Channel. In fairness, this is a much more sensible approach than the rhetoric from previous home secretaries and governments, who have tried to claim that they will be able to stop the boats altogether. There is no evidence that this is possible without making it easier to enter the UK by other methods, including concealed in lorries coming through the Channel Tunnel. But the ‘progress’ that Braverman was referring to is as much that Britain and France are making more of a show of working together than they have for the past couple of years. The post-Brexit Anglo-French relationship has been so fraught and at times deeply immature. This agreement, and Sunak’s attempts to befriend Emmanuel Macron, show that things are at least moving on. But it won’t be enough to change the situation in the Channel, which is something ministers will have to face up to at the next election.