LE STITCH-UP!

France demands £45m MORE to stop migrants at Calais–and we get to borrow Bayeux Tapestry as a sweetener ... but only if the local mayor agrees

BRITAIN yesterday submitted to French demands for another £45million to stop migrants sneaking across the Channel.

UK taxpayers will foot the bill for extra measures to target stowaways using cross-Channel lorries, trains and ferries. In what is being seen as a sweetener to ease the deal, the French have offered Britain the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry.

But even that prospect is in doubt after the mayor of the Normandy town where the artwork is currently on display imposed a series of conditions. He suggested that he might oppose the loan, or ask Britain to cover the cost of restoring the 11th century tapestry.

French president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stop Calais being a ‘back door to Britain’ – as long the UK stumps up more cash. The £45million will pay for security fencing, carbon dioxide detectors, heartbeat monitors and scanners to find stowaways.

Britain has already spent around £167million over the past four years on security at Calais and other ports along the Channel. Under ‘juxtaposed controls’, the UK’s border is effectively on French soil.

The security deal was announced as Theresa May

prepared to host a summit with Mr Macron today at Sandhurst military academy. She is expected to turn down a request for money to boost the economy around the port in Calais, according to a report in The Times.

Official figures in 015 showed that one migrant was caught trying to sneak into the UK every six minutes, 84,000 in all.

That fell to 30,000 last year – a mark of the success of extra security, said the Home Office. But critics will claims the Prime Minister has paid up after caving in to French threats to tear up the 003 Le Touquet agreement that allows UK patrols in France. Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover, said: ‘People will rightly ask why we are handing yet more money to France. That’s now nearly £170million we’ve paid over the last few years. It is time we put the UK border first and invested in the Dover front line.’

Christopher Chope, a Conservative member of the Commons home affairs committee, said: ‘We keep handing over money for security and France keeps coming back for more. It has been suggested that this is a price we need to pay for a trade deal with the EU but it certainly raises a lot of questions.’

Some French politicians have called for the border deal to be scrapped in the wake of Brexit, potentially allowing thousands of migrants to reach the UK.

A Government spokesman said: ‘This is about investing in and enhancing the security of the UK border.

‘Just as we invest in our borders around the rest of the UK, it is only right that we constantly monitor whether there is more we can be doing at the UK border controls in France and Belgium to ensure they are as secure as possible.’

Funding will also help relocate migrants away from Channel ports to prevent the build-up of another ‘Jungle’ refugee camp.

In 015, Britain gave £1 million to the French to enhance security measures, including a 9ft fence. Huge stretches were erected on the approaches to both the Eurotunnel terminal and the ferry port.

A year later the Government handed over another £17million, including £1.9million for the ‘Great Wall of Calais’ around the port. Another £36million was announced a few months later.

Mrs May will use today’s summit to announce greater cross-security co-operation.

She said: ‘Our friendship has always gone far beyond defence and security and the scope of today’s discussions represents its broad and unique nature. While this summit takes place the UK prepares to leave the EU, this does not mean that the UK is leaving Europe.’