UK prepares to announce ‘one in, one out’ migrant deal with France

More than 17,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year

The government is set to announce a “one-in, one-out” migrant removals deal between the UK and France, it has emerged.

Under the exchange, a person being deported from the UK would be exchanged for another individual sent from France who has a right to be in Britain.

Those arriving the UK would include people with a legitimate case for family reunification.

According to a report in The Times, Sir Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron are preparing to announce the agreement next week in a bid to break the model of smuggling gangs using small boats for English Channel crossings.

A government source told the newspaper: “It’ll start as a pilot but it’s to prove the point that if you pay for your passage on a boat then you could quite quickly find yourself back in France.”

Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir Starmer are working on the one-in, one-out deal (PA Wire)

Officials hope that by convincing migrants they have no hope of staying in the UK if they arrive on small boats, the numbers making the perilous journey will fall.

The UK agreed a £480m deal with France to beef up its efforts to stop migrants in 2023 under former prime minister Rishi Sunak.

And on coming to power last year, Sir Keir vowed to “smash the gangs” behind people-smuggling operations to bring down crossings.

But according to Home Office figures, 17,817 people have made the crossing so far this year.

This compares to 12,313 by the same date in 2024 and 10,518 in 2023 while 11,690 had made the crossing by June 20 in 2022.

The Conservatives said the plans were a “gimmick” and would not act as a deterrent. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “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.

“If Labour were serious, they would not have scrapped the returns deterrent the National Crime Agency said we needed - instead, they’ve surrendered our immigration system. Pathetic.”

The migrant exchange plans previously surfaced in April when transport minister Lilian Greenwood said there were discussions “ongoing” with the French government, but did not say what a future deal could look like.

She told Sky News: “I can confirm that there are discussions ongoing with the French government about how we stop this appalling and dangerous trade in people that’s happening across the English Channel.”

She later said that “where people don’t have a right to be here, they need to be returned”.