UK and Belgium sign small boats intelligence deal

The UK and Belgian governments signed an agreement Wednesday to speed up intelligence sharing against people-smugglers who launch small boats carrying migrants from Belgium toward England.

The pact was signed in London by British interior minister Shabana Mahmood and Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin.

Britain's interior ministry said UK and Belgian police will be able to exchange intelligence “autonomously and more quickly”, helping them identify, disrupt and dismantle smuggling networks. It said some information previously needed judicial approval before it could be shared, slowing investigators.

Mahmood said the agreement would help police in both countries “tighten the net around the criminal gangs behind small boat crossings”.

The ministry called the deal the first law enforcement agreement of its kind between Britain and a European Union member state since the UK left the bloc in early 2020.

Belgian government figures showed in May that the country had intercepted more than 400 people trying to cross the Channel since the beginning of the year, up from none in the whole of 2025. Officials said smugglers had shifted toward Belgium after British and French authorities increased efforts to stop crossings from northern France.

Britain's interior ministry said cooperation with Belgian authorities had resulted in more than 50 arrests linked to migrant smuggling and more than 40 vehicle seizures this year.

London has been trying to curb the Channel crossings, which have brought tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Britain annually in recent years. The UK government has said the number of irregular migrant arrivals over the summer months was the lowest since 2020, partly because of its enforcement deal with France.