HUNDREDS more dinghy migrants got to Britain yesterday — as Sir Keir Starmer said he was getting a grip on the crisis.
The PM agreed a deal with French pal Emmanuel Macron to initially return just 50 a month.
Sir Keir insisted his ‘aggressive’ one-in, one-out deal with President Emmanuel Macron would mean migrants arriving here are detained and then sent back[/caption]
The influx came as the PM promised Sun readers he “completely gets their frustration and their anger” over the Channel crisis — and vowed to drastically increase the numbers sent back to France.
Sir Keir insisted his “aggressive” one-in, one-out deal with President Emmanuel Macron — who blamed Brexit for the surge in illegal crossings — would mean migrants arriving here are detained and then sent back.
For every one returned, Britain will take an asylum seeker from France with a legitimate claim and an all-clear on security.
But officials are bracing for legal battles similar to those over the axed Tory scheme to sent migrants to Rwanda in Africa.
They admitted those selected for deportation under yesterday’s deal with France would be able to wage lengthy court appeals.
The initial pilot, hoped to be launched in the coming weeks, will see just 50 migrants sent back per week with the French exercising a veto over who they accept.
Under that arrangement it could take months to return all those who made the dangerous journey yesterday in flat seas.
The Sun sailed to the Channel with Nigel Farage and watched as the French navy escorted a boatload of 78 migrants into British waters before passing them over to Border Force.
They even demanded lifejackets be returned, ready for the next batch of illegals heading here.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun after his announcement of the French migrants deal, the PM suggested the ultimate goal was for every one to be returned.
Sir Keir insisted: “We’ve got the flex to ramp this up.”
But he warned the new deal would involve “financial arrangements” which could go beyond the £771million we have already handed to France since 2018.
Revealed in the Plan:
- Migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France in short order
- A one-in, one-out system will operate with migrants sent back to France in exchange for asylum seekers
- The plan is merely a pilot scheme – which could be canned if it doesn’t work
- Only 50 a week will be sent packing – a fraction of the thousands crossing into the UK
In a joint press conference with the French president, Sir Keir admitted: “Illegal migration is a global crisis and it’s a European crisis but it’s also very acutely a crisis for our two nations, a crisis of law, security, humanity and fairness.
“We face a sprawling multi-billion pound enterprise run by criminal gangs leading hundreds of people to their deaths in the Channel.
“So we’re determined together to end this vile trade.”
Illegal migration is a global crisis and it’s a European crisis but it’s also very acutely a crisis for our two nations, a crisis of law, security, humanity and fairness
Sir Keir Starmer, in a joint press conference with the French president
Sir Keir added: “This is our plan together; hard-headed, aggressive action on all fronts to break the gangs’ business model, secure our borders and show that attempting to reach the UK by small boat will only end in detention, failure and return.”
‘Truly very angry’
Despite the PM’s triumphalism on the “groundbreaking” deal, Mr Macron said it had been struck “in principle” but was subject to “legal verifications” and EU sign-off.
The French would also be able to choose whether to accept an individual, with the UK also given the same right over who comes here.
The Home Office refused to reveal how the 50 migrants per week would be selected, but said they would mainly be from countries deemed safe, with low rates of successful UK asylum claims.
The numbers are expected to be limited by how many cells are available in immigration detention centres, which currently have around 2,500 spaces. Another 1,000 are being added.
The selected migrants, all of them adults, will be handed notices informing them that they are due to be sent back to France.
It is not yet known how they will be returned but it could be by chartered flights or on coaches.
After being transferred to France, they will have access to the French asylum system or could be removed back to their country of origin.
Anyone who comes back across the Channel in a small boat will be removed again and not allowed to claim asylum.
Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart said she was “truly very angry” at the deal as she will “soon be dealing with the problem of returns”.
Speaking to The Sun Sir Keir appeared to acknowledge he had to deliver on the Channel crisis to stand a chance of winning re-election.
He said: “It’s really important we make progress on that, and I don’t shy away from that for a moment, because we must have control of our borders, but equally, we have to make sure that we deliver on living standards and a better health service.
“That is what I’m focused on every day. I know I have to deliver for the British people.”
This agreement is a humiliation for Brexit Britain
Nigel Farage
Reform UK chief Nigel Farage
insisted: “This agreement is a humiliation for Brexit Britain. We have acted today as an EU member and bowed down to an arrogant French president.”
Sir Keir accused his rival of milking the small boats issue and only wanting to “take pictures”.
The PM said: “You either point a camera at the problem because you want to exploit it as a problem, or you roll up your sleeves and do the serious work of actually dealing with the problem.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also piled in, saying: “Labour’s limp returns deal will only remove one in every 17 illegal immigrants arriving.
“Allowing 94 per cent of illegal immigrants to stay will make no difference whatsoever and have no deterrent effect. This is the latest catastrophic example that when Labour negotiates, the UK loses.”
The 50-per-week trial agreement is equivalent to just 2,600 returns annually, compared with the 44,000 who have arrived since Labour took power a year ago.
And this year alone more than 20,600 migrants had crossed the Channel — a 56 per cent rise on the same period in 2024.
On the final day of his three-day state visit, Mr Macron put noses out of joint by blaming Brexit for the surge in boat crossings.
He said: “The British people were sold a lie about immigration.
“It’s in fact since Brexit [that] the UK has no migratory agreement with the EU. It creates an incentive to make the crossing, the precise opposite of what Brexit promised.”
CARRY ON MIGRATING
By Sophia Sleigh
HOURS before Keir Starmer unveiled his small boats plan I was in the middle of the English Channel with Nigel Farage, above, watching as migrants made the crossing.
A French warship chaperoned a dinghy carrying 78 illegal migrants — 74 men and four women and children — into international waters.
There they were handed over to a UK Border Force boat.
A state-facilitated crime was unfolding before my very eyes. “It’s almost as if it’s being allowed to happen,” Nigel said.
The French demanded 40 life jackets back for the next batch of illegal migrants heading to Britain. Clearly they expect hundreds more crossings in the warm weather.
What we saw undermined any claims of “stopping the boats”. It was less stop the boats and more carry on migrating.
