The UK government has agreed to hand France another £660 million to help stop asylum seekers from crossing the English Channel in small boats - a deal that includes funding for an actual riot squad whose job is to "contain and disperse" people before they set off.
The three-year agreement, set to be signed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, will put 1,100 enforcement, intelligence and military officers on French shores - a 40% increase on current numbers - according to reporting by The Guardian.
So what exactly is £660m buying?
Beyond the riot squad (which, yes, is a real thing in this deal and not a premise from a dark political satire), the funding is aimed at bolstering France's capacity to intercept crossings before they happen. The idea is that more boots on the ground - and presumably more flashing lights and whistles - will deter people from attempting the notoriously dangerous crossing.
The UK has now spent a staggering amount of taxpayer money paying another sovereign nation to manage migration on its behalf. This latest £660m comes on top of previous payments that have already run into the hundreds of millions, with critics questioning whether the approach is actually delivering results proportional to its cost.
Does it work, though?
That is the big question nobody seems to have a clean answer to. Channel crossings have remained stubbornly persistent despite years of joint UK-France enforcement operations and ever-increasing financial commitments. Supporters of the deal argue that without these measures, numbers would be far higher. Opponents counter that the root causes of migration are not being addressed, and that funding riot squads is not exactly a humanitarian high point.
What is confirmed, per The Guardian's reporting, is that the deal is real, the money is committed, and the signing is going ahead. Whether this finally "solves" the Channel crossing issue - or simply becomes another expensive chapter in a very long, very complicated book - remains to be seen.
One thing is certain: £660 million is a lot of money for a problem that keeps coming back. France, for its part, is presumably very happy with the arrangement.
