UK-France deal targeting migrants crossing English Channel is scrapped

A pilot programme between the UK and France that aimed to curb the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped, Britain’s government said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Home Office said the so-called “one in, one out” deal is “no longer processing new cases”.

Under the plan, people who arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing across the Channel could be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who applied through a safe and legal route.

As part of the deal, some 1,500 individuals have returned to France while a tad fewer have been transferred to the UK. The deal was intended to last three years though there was a clause allowing the parties to end it earlier.

“We continue to work with France to relentlessly tackle small boat crossings, and we’ve made real progress,” the Home Office said in a statement.

Though the scheme is no longer active, the Home Office said deportation flights will continue in the coming weeks for those who have already been detained.

The backdrop currently is very different to last year. The number of people making the crossing has fallen sharply this year to a five-year low for a variety of reasons, including increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France.

So far this year, around 19,000 people have made the crossing, down about 40 per cent on the same time last year.

The danger of crossings was illustrated on Monday when a 10-year-old child and two women died, apparently trampled to death on a boat packed with more than 100 people.

Small boat crossings have become a potent political issue in the UK in recent years.

Anger at the seeming inability of successive governments to get a handle on the issue has been behind a series of demonstrations and riots and has fuelled the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party.