24/07/2026
Our money is being used to fund hostile and violent policing and borders at home and abroad.
In May, JCWI and the Crossborder Forum visited Calais. We went to see the current situation at the UK-France border, speak to and hear from local organisations about current conditions, and monitor the violent French policing and enforcement against people seeking asylum that the British government is paying for.
This year the UK government agreed to give the French authorities £660 million to police the UK-France border over the next three years, even more than the hundreds of millions they have given before. The previous deal between the countries in 2023, for £478m, ended this year.
Overall, more than a billion will have been spent since 2013.
This money is directly funding police in northern France to attack people trying to cross the Channel, destroying people’s living spaces, attacking people on beaches and even using knives to slash boats which are carrying people.
That means that more than a billion pounds of our money is being spent funding French police violence, harassment and oppression against people seeking asylum in northern France. It also does nothing to address the reasons people move and cross the Channel.
Instead of funding racist policing and violence in France, the British government could use these vast sums to pay for housing, welfare and other essential support for people, regardless of where they are born.
We must break these borders. And we must build anew.
