UK to
start small boats returns to France ‘within days’ after EU gives green light
Some
asylum seekers will be sent back across Channel for first time under treaty
agreed with French president
Jessica
Elgot Deputy political editor
Mon 4 Aug
2025 22.30 BST
The UK
will begin detaining people who arrive on small boats and returning some to
France “within days” after the EU gave the green light to a deal agreed with
the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
The
treaty between France and the UK will allow 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.
Those who
have crossed the Channel to the UK using small boats will become inadmissible
for safe routes, according to the terms of the treaty. About 50 people a week
are expected to be returned during the pilot of the so-called “one in, one out”
scheme.
The Home
Office said the pilot was “operationally ready” and that detentions could start
within days. The summer months, when the weather tends to be better, 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 Conservatives have panned the scheme, saying the
numbers arriving would mean it was the equivalent of “17 in, one out”.
Nationalities
at the greatest risk will be prioritised on the newly opened safe route and
will be subject to full documentation and security and eligibility checks.
The pilot
scheme runs until June 2026, after which both the UK and France have said they
will assess its future.
The final
text of the deal was signed by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and her
French counterpart, Bruno Retailleau, last week, and approved by the European
Commission, which was thought to be a potential obstacle.
The UK
prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the agreement was “the product of months of
grownup diplomacy delivering real results for British people as we broker deals
no government has been able to achieve and strike at the heart of these vile
gangs’ business model.
“The days
of gimmicks and broken promises are over – we will restore order to our borders
with the seriousness and competence the British people deserve.”
Cooper
said the government would robustly defend any legal challenge, saying it had
learned from the failed Rwanda deportation scheme under the Conservatives.
“This is
an important step towards undermining the business model of the organised crime
gangs that are behind these crossings – undermining their claims that those who
travel to the UK illegally can’t be returned to France,” she said.
“It is
also right to make clear that – while the UK will always be ready to play its
part alongside other countries in helping those fleeing persecution and
conflict – this must be done in a controlled and managed legal way, not through
dangerous, illegal and uncontrolled routes.”
The Home
Office said preparations for the scheme had begun, including clearing space in
immigration removal centres, and a new operational strategy for Border Force
officials to allow them to identify which potential asylum seekers would make
their claims inadmissible by travelling via small boat.
Anyone
who arrives by small boat and is returned to France will not be eligible for
the legal route to the UK, while anyone who tries to re-enter the UK having
already been returned to France 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.
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