Migrants could soon be deported to France from the UK in a ‘one in one out’ deal

The UK and France will unveil a ‘one in, one out’ migrant returns deal to crack down on English Channel crossings.

Plans for a pilot programme could be revealed next week, which marks one year since Keir Starmer’s Labour government came to power, or later in the summer, according to The Times.

The deal could see migrants who arrive in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats returned to France, but the UK would accept those with legitimate claims to join family already in the country.

The government previously vowed to crack down on people smuggling gangs across the Channel, while crossings are at a record high for this point in the year, totalling 18,518.

French officials have also agreed to changes that would allow police patrolling the coast to take action in the sea when migrants climb into boats from the water.

Under the new returns deal, a joint processing system between the UK and France would be set up to identify migrants who have a valid claim for family reunification in the UK.

For each person accepted to come to the UK, a migrant would be returned to France and relocated across the country away from its northern coastline where crossings take place.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said of the deal: ‘We pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais, and in return we get a migrant merry-go-round where the same number still come here.

‘The French are failing to stop the boats at sea, failing to return them like the Belgians do, and now instead of demanding real enforcement, Labour are trying a ‘one in, one out’ gimmick.’

Earlier this month, the Defence Secretary said the UK had ‘lost control of its borders’ in the past five years, after a new high for Channel crossings was recorded.

John Healey blamed the previous Conservative government for failing to control the small boats crisis in an appearance on Sky News.

He described scenes of migrants piling on flimsy crafts for the dangerous crossing from France to England this month as ‘pretty shocking’.

In February, the government in Paris agreed to change the law so the boats could be intercepted in shallow waters.

However, the move has still not been formally implemented, and just 184 of the 1,378 migrants who attempted a crossing on May 31 were rescued.

Healey said: ‘They’re not doing it, but for the first time we’ve got the level of cooperation needed, we’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work.

‘And our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation, so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.

‘That’ll be part of, part of, I hope, dealing with this absolutely intolerable problem.’

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