The United Kingdom will begin detaining people who arrive on small boats and returning some to France “within days” after the European Union gave the green light to a treaty agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The treaty between France and the UK allows the Home Office to return some asylum seekers back across the Channel for the first time, in exchange for accepting others directly from France via a safe route. About 50 people a week are expected to be returned during the pilot of the “one in, one out” scheme. Those who have crossed the Channel to the UK using small boats will become inadmissible for safe routes.
The Home Office said the pilot was “operationally ready” and that detentions could start within days. The summer months are usually the high point for crossings, with 898 arrivals on 30 July alone. Since the start of the year, about 25,000 people have sought asylum by arriving on small boats across the Channel.
The final text of the deal was signed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and her French counterpart, Bruno Retailleau, last week, and approved by the European Commission. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the agreement was “the product of months of grownup diplomacy delivering real results for British people”. Cooper said the government would robustly defend any legal challenge, having learned from the failed Rwanda deportation scheme under the Conservatives.
The pilot scheme runs until June 2026, after which both countries have said they will assess its future. Anyone who arrives by small boat and is returned to France will not be eligible for the legal route to the UK, and anyone who tries to re-enter having been returned once will be returned again “as a matter of priority”.
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said the scheme would have “no difference whatsoever” and blamed the rise in Channel crossings on Labour’s cancellation of the Rwanda scheme.
