Gavin
Mortimer
Starmer’s
‘one in, one out’ migrant plan will fail
27 June
2025, 7:13am
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/starmers-one-in-one-out-migrant-plan-will-end-in-failure/
Britain and
France believe they have found a solution to the small boats crisis. According
to reports, Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to implement
a ‘one-in, one-out’ system whereby Britain will return to France illegal
migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats. Britain, for its part,
will accept migrants who have a legitimate case for joining family already
resident in the UK. A government source told the Times: ‘It’ll start as a pilot
but it’s to prove the point that if you pay for your passage on a boat, then
you could quite quickly find yourself back in France.’
Under the
scheme, Britain and France would process migrants using biometric details and
separate those who have a valid claim for family reunification in Britain from
those who do not. The latter would be returned to France.
The French
know a thing or two about ‘gimmicks’ when it comes to the migrant crisis
The scheme
could be officially unveiled as early as next week so Starmer has something to
celebrate as he marks his first year in power. But is it a deal worth
celebrating?
This is not
the first time Paris and London have solemnly pledged to work together to
combat the scourge of illegal immigration. In 2002, Home Secretary David
Blunkett and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy announced a deal to close
the Sangatte migrant camp at Calais. ‘We will also put an end to a symbol – a
symbol which was like a magnet for immigrants who thought that by coming there
they would find a way into the UK,’ declared Sarkozy.
The deal did
little to stop the migrants, so in 2014 another deal was signed, in which
Britain handed over €15 million to France. A year later another treaty was
hammered out, this one signed by Theresa May and Bernard Cazeneuve. The pair
put pen to paper on 20 August. Eleven days later Angela Merkel threw open
Europe’s borders to more than one million refugees and migrants with her now
infamous cry of ‘Wir schaffen das!’. As The Spectator remarked a few days
later: ‘She has exacerbated a problem that will be with us for years, perhaps
decades.’
Between 2014
and the end of 2022, Britain paid France £232 million to better manage their
shared border. In March 2023, Britain handed over an additional £500 million,
money well spent, according to the then prime minister Rishi Sunak. ‘Working
together, the UK and France will ensure that nobody can exploit our systems
with impunity,’ he declared, promising that the money would ‘put an end to this
disgusting trade in human life’.
Nearly
37,000 people arrived in England illegally on small boats in 2024, 7,000 more
than in 2023. So far this year, more than 18,000 have crossed (a 42 per cent
increase on the same period in 2024) – a figure that is likely to surge over
the summer as the traffickers take advantage of the good weather.
The Tories
were quick to criticise this latest scheme. Chris Philp, the shadow home
secretary, said that ‘the French are failing to stop the boats at sea…and now
instead of demanding real enforcement, Labour are trying a one in, one out
gimmick’.
The French
know a thing or two about ‘gimmicks’ when it comes to the migrant crisis, as
they do about broken presidential promises. The French people long ago stopped
believing a word Emmanuel Macron says about solving their own migrant chaos. In
July 2017, for example, two months into his presidency, Macron declared that he
wanted:
Administrative
processing everywhere, from the very first minute, to determine whether an
asylum application can be made or not, followed by a genuine policy of
deportation.
There was no
processing, however, and as vast numbers of migrants continued to arrive in
France, Macron came up with a new wheeze: instead of returning them whence they
came, illegal immigrants would be dispersed in the provinces. The announcement
of this plan, in 2022, was a political gift to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally,
and helps explain the party’s electoral success in recent years.
According to
the Times, under the one-in, one-out scheme, illegal migrants will be ‘returned
to locations across France, away from its northern coast’. Le Pen’s party will
oppose such a project, as will the centre-right Republicans.
The
coalition government under Francois Bayrou is teetering on the brink after
talks over pension reform collapsed earlier this week. The left have filed a
vote of no confidence in Bayrou but Le Pen has said her party won’t endorse it.
The right are propping up the government, for the time being, but their support
could easily be withdrawn – over a migrant relocation scheme, for example.
This latest
plan to solve the small boats crisis will play out like every other since 2002:
a firm handshake, a media fanfare and a complete failure.
Gavin
Mortimer
Written by
Gavin
Mortimer
Gavin
Mortimer is a British author who lives in Burgundy after many years in Paris.
He writes about French politics, terrorism and sport.
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