PRESS RELEASE : New measures to tackle small boats agreed by Calais Group [March 2024]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 5 March 2024.

The UK and other northern European countries discussed new commitments to disrupt the supply chain of small boats yesterday evening (Monday 4 March).

At a meeting of the Calais Group in Brussels, Home Secretary James Cleverly hosted representatives from France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, in the presence of the European Commission and its agencies. The nations discussed how best to progress joint efforts in tackling the global migration crisis.

The UK and France will lead a new customs partnership, which they have invited other Calais Group members to discuss in detail in April. This is an initiative to work with countries throughout the supply chain of small boat materials, and will build on the effective work already being done to prevent small boat launches from northern France.

Partnership countries and their customs agencies will, through the customs partnership, be able to share information more effectively to disrupt shipments of small boat materials, preventing them from making it to the English Channel.

In addition to the launch of the customs partnership, several other key points were covered by the Calais Group:

• the Home Secretary emphasised the need for strengthened measures, including operational and legislative, to ensure a more effective deterrent against the facilitation of illegal migration across Europe, focusing on the range of destinations and transit routes being used and breadth of criminal activity taking place
• a renewed commitment to step up work with social media companies to tackle online activity by people smuggling networks
• the Home Secretary also discussed the operationalisation of the new deal the UK has signed with Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, to exchange information and intelligence and take on the people smuggling gangs together

Home Secretary James Cleverly said:

Working closely with our European neighbours is fundamental to solving the illegal migration crisis. Global problems require global solutions, and the UK is leading the conversation around the changes needed to crack down on people smugglers and break their supply chains.

The Calais Group is central to our mission, and we have already made significant progress by reducing small boat crossings by 36%. Our new customs partnership demonstrates our enduring commitment to smashing the business model of criminal gangs and stopping the boats.

Ministers welcomed the joint progress achieved since the last meeting of the Calais Group in December 2022. The number of small boats crossing the English Channel is down by 46% on last year and the number of illegal migrants arriving in the UK has fallen by 36%.

The UK also returned more than 25,000 people without the right to be here last year.