First
‘one in, one out’ deportation flight reportedly takes off without migrants
Group of
people who crossed Channel by boat understood not to have been on Air France
plane after legal challenge
Nadeem
Badshah
Mon 15
Sep 2025 23.46 BST
The first
flight to France carrying people who crossed the Channel under Keir Starmer’s
“one in, one out” deal has not taken place as planned, according to reports.
A small
group of individuals were removed from an Air France flight on Monday due to
travel from Heathrow to Paris after a legal challenge, according to multiple
newspaper reports.
The
passenger flight went ahead without any people who crossed the Channel on board
and is one of several throughout the week on which the Home Office has booked
seats. A government source said the first deportation flights under the deal
with France are expected to take place this week.
Earlier
on Monday the skills minister, Jacqui Smith, refused to say how many people
will be returned to France this week under the deal, while French officials are
reported to have said they will only be accepting a small initial contingent of
deportations.
The pilot
scheme, announced during Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the UK in July,
allows the UK to send asylum seekers who have travelled across the Channel back
to France in exchange for those who apply and are given approval to come to
Britain.
Formal
removal directions are understood to have been issued to those who arrived in
the UK on small boats last month, telling them they will be deported within
five days.
The
number of people arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel has surpassed
30,000 for the year so far, the earliest point in a calendar year at which the
figure has been reached since data was first reported in 2018.
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