The UK Home Office announced on 4 August 2026 that its new border security partnership with France is now under way, stressing that for the first time a significant portion of the funding uplift will depend on results in stopping small boat crossings of the English Channel. In a post on X, the department outlined the core elements of the agreement: a roughly 40% increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers on French beaches; a new 50-strong unit of police s