{"id":322377,"date":"2025-08-06T11:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T11:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/322377\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T11:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T11:31:11","slug":"keir-starmers-migrant-returns-deal-with-france-is-picked-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/322377\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer’s Migrant Returns Deal With France Is Picked Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keir Starmer <\/a>and Emmanuel Macron<\/a> proudly presented their new, one-in, one-out, scheme last month in the hope it would finally deter small boat crossings.<\/a><\/p>\n

But, as the agreement was ratified on Tuesday<\/a>, critics began to spot certain issues with the deal which suggested it may not be as water-tight as hoped…<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in the new deal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The deal means the two countries have agreed to deter small boat crossings in the English Channel going from France to the UK.<\/p>\n

The one-in, one-out returns policy means any undocumented person entering the UK on a small boat from here on out can be detained immediately and returned to France.<\/p>\n

In exchange, the UK has to accept just as many migrants from France \u2013 albeit through a new asylum route \u2013 although anyone who already has a family connection in Britain will be prioritised.<\/p>\n

The agreement will be run on a trial basis for the next 11 months, with detentions expected to start within a matter of days and removals kicking off within a few weeks.<\/p>\n

Why are the concerns?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a so-called \u2018human rights loophole\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tories have argued that the treaty has a loophole because migrants with human rights claims might be able to stay in the UK.<\/p>\n

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the deal is \u201ccompletely unworkable and will be ruthlessly exploited by human rights lawyers to prevent people being returned to France\u201d.<\/p>\n

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy denied that this morning and said such claims will be heard in France.<\/p>\n

However, on Sky News, she refused to confirm that anyone with outstanding human rights claims will be able to stay in the UK while that goes through the courts.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe\u2019re speeding up the court process to make sure that those delays will be minimal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Treaty itself stated a person will not have an outstanding human rights claim by the time of their transfer to France \u2013 meaning migrants might be able to stay in the UK for an indefinite amount of time while any legal challenges are processed is being processed.<\/p>\n

Migrants can also tell British authorities they are under 18, which means they will be ineligible for deportation, until a lengthy age assessment is carried out.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople thought to be migrants who undertook the crossing from France in small boats and were picked up in the Channel.<\/p>\n

\u2018It risks causing the same harm as the Rwanda deal\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Others fear that the deal is not strong enough when it comes to protecting migrants\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

Pierre Makhlouf, legal director at Bail for Immigration Detainees, told HuffPost UK he is concerned the government is \u201crushing\u201d the process, meaning migrants could not have the right access to timely and adequate legal advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw last time with the Rwanda plan<\/a> just how damaging and traumatising it was for the government to round up people into detention and onto planes, only to release them because they could not lawfully deport them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Rwanda plan, we had a 100% success rate in securing bail for the people we assisted, who were often highly vulnerable people seeking asylum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis returns deal risks causing that same cruelty, inflicting harm and long-lasting trauma on everyone detained and threatened with deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taxpayers will have to pay for migrant transportation costs<\/strong><\/p>\n

The treaty shows Brits will have to pay for migrants to be ferried back across the Channel.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s on top of the \u00a3100 million<\/a> set aside to strengthen border enforcement, and the \u00a3770 million the UK has sent to France <\/a>over the last 12 years to stem the steady flow of illegal migration the UK.<\/p>\n

Considering a YouGov poll <\/a>from last month found only 45% of 7,792 respondents support the deal, that\u2019s a significant sum of money coming out of the public purse.<\/p>\n

France can reject the request to send a migrant back<\/strong><\/p>\n

The treaty explained that if France \u201cconsiders that an individual would be a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any of the Schengen states\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the name of the European states which have removed controls at their borders.<\/p>\n

France can also ignore a request to send someone back, meaning they have to stay in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron proudly presented their new, one-in, one-out, scheme last month in the hope it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[34,2000,299,36,807],"class_list":{"0":"post-322377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-emmanuel-macron","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-keir-starmer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114981600256188977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}