Britain and France have agreed a one in, one out’ returns deal to send small boat migrants back across the channel ‘in short order, Keir Starmer said today.
After days of talks the Prime Minister confirmed a new trial swap scheme would come into effect within weeks, at a press conference alongside his ‘friend’ Emmanuel Macron.
He labelled it ‘groundbreaking’ and warned those crossing that it meant ‘you will end up where you started’.
However, he is facing concerns about the scale of the exchange, which would see the UK take migrants in France who have links to the country and have never tried to enter Britain illegally.
According to details leaked to French media just 50 Channel migrants per week are expected to be swapped.
That would be just one in 17 of the current level of arrivals, which stands at 44,000 for the year so far.
There are also questions over how quickly it will come into effect. Sir Keir said it would come in within ‘weeks’, but Mr Macron said it still needed to be legally ratified by the EU.
The president also used the press conference in north west London to suggest Brexit was at least partly to blame for the crossings, because there was no official migrant agreement with the EU.
He had previously suggested that the UK needed to take action to reduce the ‘pull factors’ enticing people into making the journey.
Sir Keir told reporters: ‘For the very first time, migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France in short order…
‘In exchange for every return, a different individual will be allowed to come here via a safe route, controlled and legal, subject to strict security checks and only open to those who have not tried to enter the UK illegally.
‘This will show others trying to make the same journey that it will be in vain, and the jobs they have been promised in the UK will no longer exist because of the nationwide crackdown we’re delivering on illegal working which is on a completely unprecedented scale.
‘The president and I have agreed that this pilot will be implemented in the coming weeks.’
Sir Keir added: ‘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.
‘That is why today’s agreement is so important, because we will solve this, like so many of our problems, by working together.’
Supporters say the idea will deter people from making the perilous crossing, although critics have branded it a ‘migrant merry go round’.
Border Force vessels have been sent as part of the response to multiple boats today.
Nigel Farage posted on X that he was also in the Channel and saw 78 migrants, including four women and children.
He told GB News: ‘This is a classic day in the English Channel over the last five years when the weather’s calm, or a red day, as they call it.
‘You’ve got a migrant boat and we’ve seen it through the binoculars.
‘There’s about 70 people on board, being escorted, all the way over by the French Navy and behind us, we have Border Force sitting on the 12-mile line, waiting for the handover.’