France and the UK have agreed a “one in, one out” deal in which Britain will return migrants across the channel but take others in return.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the new agreement alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, who is on a state visit to the UK.
Mr Starmer hopes the deal will begin to tackle the politically charged problem of small boats by taking in qualifying migrants with family ties in the UK.
More than 21,000 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel so far this year, which is a record for this point in the year since data collection began in 2018.
As the two leaders were finalising the deal, images show people wearing life jackets arriving in Dover, Kent disembarking from a Border Force boat amid sunny weather on Thursday.
Announcing what he called a “historic” agreement on a “ground-breaking” returns scheme, Mr Starmer explained that migrants arriving through small boats 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,” he said.
“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.”
Mr Starmer said the UK was signalling a “new level of intent to tackle illegal migration and break the business model of the criminal gangs”.
“For us, it’s about delivering the changes that the British people want to see, and we will agree the situation in the Channel cannot go on as it is,” he said.
Mr Starmer said this pilot programme will be implemented in the coming weeks but also stressed the UK should continue to accept asylum seekers.
“We accept genuine asylum seekers because it is right that we offer a haven to those in most dire need,” he said.
The deal comes in the wake of an agreement by France to bring in new rules of engagement that would allow its police to board small boats up to 300 metres from the coast to stop them from reaching Britain.
Sunder Katwala, of British Future, a think tank, said the deal was a promising breakthrough on migrant route co-operation. “Getting that right could determine whether the government succeeds or fails on Channel crossings,” he said.
But Steve Smith, CEO of refugee charity Care4Calais said the agreement was “a grubby deal between two Governments that trades human lives”.
“A deal that will likely be expensive, will make life harder for people who seek safety in the UK, but ultimately will do nothing to tackle the root cause of Channel crossings – a lack of safe routes,” he said.
Mr Smith said the deal could become the Labour government’s equivalent of the failed Rwanda scheme.
Under the scheme, put forward by the previous Conservative government, all migrants who arrived in small boats would be sent to the African country to have asylum claims processed.
“In opposition, Keir Starmer railed against Tory gimmicks. Now he’s creating his own,” said Mr Smith.
