{"id":216332,"date":"2025-06-26T16:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T16:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/216332\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T16:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T16:37:13","slug":"labour-poised-to-announce-one-in-one-out-migrant-exchange-deal-with-france-but-tories-dub-it-pathetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/216332\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour poised to announce ‘one in, one out’ migrant exchange deal with France – but Tories dub it ‘pathetic’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DAVID BARRETT HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 12:26 EDT, 26 June 2025 | Updated: 12:27 EDT, 26 June 2025 <\/p>\n

The Conservatives<\/a> have blasted a \u2018pathetic\u2019 plan being drawn up by Labour<\/a> to send small boat migrants back to France<\/a> in exchange for other types of asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

Ministers are reported to be on the cusp of announcing a deal with president Emmanuel Macron<\/a>\u2019s government which would see France accept returns of Channel migrants for the first time.<\/p>\n

But for each migrant returned back across the Channel the UK would accept another asylum seeker in a \u2018one in, one out\u2019 exchange, it is understood.<\/p>\n

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded it \u2018pathetic\u2019 and said Labour should never have scrapped the previous government\u2019s Rwanda<\/a> asylum scheme, which was designed to deter Channel crossings.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> is expected to announce the new agreement within days, in the run-up to the first anniversary of Labour\u2019s return to power, which falls a week tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Amid an intensifying Channel crisis, the Government will hope the deal will reduce the number of migrants crossing illegally by dinghy \u2013 who may be deterred because they could be sent back almost immediately.<\/p>\n

However, how the scheme will work \u2013 and its full impact \u2013 remains unknown at this stage.<\/p>\n

\"Migrants <\/p>\n

Migrants arriving at Dover last month: now a new deal is afoot to allow them to be returned to France almost immediately, according to reports<\/p>\n

Britain will reportedly accept asylum seekers from France on a \u2018one for one\u2019 basis. They are likely to be those who already have relatives living in this country.<\/p>\n

Mr Philp said: \u2018We 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.<\/p>\n

\"Migrants <\/p>\n

Migrants on the beach at Gravelines, France, earlier this month<\/p>\n

\"If <\/p>\n

If a deal is secured with France it would be the first time Emmanuel Macron’s government has agreed to accept migrants back to its shores<\/p>\n

\u2018The 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 \u201cone in, one out\u201d gimmick.<\/p>\n

\u2018If Labour were serious, they would not have scrapped the returns deterrent the National Crime Agency said we needed – instead, they\u2019ve surrendered our immigration system. Pathetic.\u2019<\/p>\n

It comes after 118 migrants reached Britain on Wednesday, bringing the total since Labour came to power to 41,760, up 34 per cent on the same period in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week it emerged that migrants living in taxpayer-funded asylum hotels are securing work as fast food delivery riders within hours of entering Britain.<\/p>\n

\"Home <\/p>\n

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is said to be in the final stages of negotiating a new agreement with France<\/p>\n

Mr Philp said he had found evidence of asylum seekers breaking rules which bar them from working while their claim is processed by the Home Office.<\/p>\n

The Tory frontbencher visited an asylum hotel in central London and posted a video showing bicycles fitted with delivery boxes for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats parked outside<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Latest Home Office figures show there are about 32,000 asylum seekers in hotels in the UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir scrapped the Rwanda scheme as one of his first acts in office.<\/p>\n

The deal would have seen small boat migrants handed a one-way ticket to the east African nation to claim asylum there rather than in the UK.<\/p>\n

Labour replaced the scheme with measures to boost law enforcement, in a bid to \u2018smash the gangs\u2019 behind the deadly Channel crossings aboard overloaded, sub-standard dinghies.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday the borders watchdog said he was \u2018not convinced\u2019 Labour\u2019s plan will end the Channel crisis, and predicted ministers will fail to meet their target to end use of asylum hotels by end of this Parliament.<\/p>\n

Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt said he had written to ministers to express his doubts about the plan.<\/p>\n

It was first reported in April that Britain and France were in talks about a migrant returns deal. At that stage it was mooted to be a pilot scheme.<\/p>\n

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