The UK will begin returning migrants arriving in small boats to France within weeks under a new pilot scheme, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Under the “one in one out” deal, some arrivals would be detained and returned to France and in exchange the UK would accept an equivalent number of asylum seekers, subject to security checks and provided they had not tried to enter the UK illegally.
Speaking at a press conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir said the plan would demonstrate that trying to make the Channel crossing would “be in vain”.
He did not confirm how many people would be returned or accepted during the pilot.
Asked if the deal would be big enough to act as an effective deterrent, Sir Keir said the pilot would help “break the model” of the people smugglers, and added that it would be ramped up if it was successful.
The migrants accepted by the UK would need to have a connection to Britain, such as family ties.
In a statement released after the press conference, the government said the agreement would be signed “subject to completing prior legal scrutiny in full transparency and understanding with the Commission and EU Member states”.
Macron said he was “totally committed” to the plans to tackle small boat crossings.
He also said Brexit had made it harder for the UK to tackle illegal migration arguing that the British people were “sold a lie… which is that the problem was Europe”.
During the press conference, the two leaders also announced that their countries would:
- co-ordinate their nuclear deterrents
- strengthen collaboration on supercomputers and AI
- “speed up and accelerate” co-operation on anti-ship missiles.
Announcing the small boats pilot, Sir Keir said: “I know some people will still ask, why should we take anyone in – so let me address that directly.
“We accept genuine asylum seekers because it is right that we offer a haven to those in most dire need.
“But there is also something else, something more practical which is that we simply cannot solve a challenge like stopping the boats by acting alone and telling our allies that we won’t play ball.”
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the deal would “only return one in every 17 illegal immigrants arriving”.
“Allowing 94% of illegal immigrants to stay will make no difference whatsoever and have no deterrent effect.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the crossings are “a national security emergency” and in a reference to payments made by the UK to support French policing efforts added: “Frankly the French owe us our money back.”
He said he didn’t believe the pilot would work, saying: “If we even try to deport people across the Channel, we will run straight into the European Convention on Human Rights.”
Both the previous Conservative governments and current Labour one have struggled to stem the numbers coming to the UK in small boats.
The Conservatives had proposed sending arrivals to Rwanda, however the scheme was delayed by legal challenges and the general election was called before it could be implemented.
One of Sir Keir’s first acts as prime minister was to scrap the plan, calling it a gimmick.
He said his government would focus instead on tackling the smuggling gangs that organise the crossings.
Numbers have continued to rise, with nearly 20,000 people arriving in the UK in the first half of this year – a 48% increase on the same time period in 2024.
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