GB News was paused for a breaking update as it was announced that two migrants have died crossing the English Channel from France. Six other migrants were rescued as part of a search and rescue operation, with one subsequently taken to hospital for further treatment. Their deaths came just hours after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood secured a last-minute extension to a beach patrol agreement with France. The politician signed the £2 million a week extension to the current arrangement as negotiations between Britain and France continue.

Discussing the extension, GB News Political Correspondent Olivia Utley said: "The deal was supposed to come to an end at midnight last night. It has been extended for the next two months at a cost of a couple of million pounds while the two try and hammer out a deal.

"At the same time, we've had a response from the Home Office to an FOI showing that in the busiest period of last year between July and October when the seas are very quiet, at a time when nearly 17,000 migrants came over to the UK, just 33 small boat pilots were convicted of that offence."

Utley continued: "Keir Starmer's line of attack when he was conducting the election appeal was that he was going to smash the gangs at source. Those numbers don't seem to bear it out.

"His other prong of attack was this deal with the French. That was agreed by Rishi Sunak in 2023, due to last three years at a cost of £476 million.

"Shabana Mahmood was going to create another deal which was going to cost £650 million, but was supposed to mean that more French officers would be patrolling the beaches. At the moment, that deal is still up in the air."

She added: "All we've got for now is an extension of the current deal, which as the figures show, don't seem to be particularly effective."

After the extension was secured, a spokesperson from the department said: "The Home Secretary is driving a hard bargain with the French to deliver the best deal for the British people to prevent illegal migrants crossing the channel. Essentially getting more bang for our buck."

So far this year, about 4,441 people have arrived in the UK on small boats. Figures from Oxford University's Migration Observatory show 24 people died trying to cross the English Channel by small boat last year. This was down from 73 in 2024.