The UK’s migrant returns deal with France is set to begin “within days”, the government has said, as Home Office officials brace to defend the pact against any legal challenges after “learning from the errors” of the previous government’s Rwanda deal.
In the first agreement of its kind, the UK will return dozens of illegal migrants to France in exchange for eligible migrants under a “one-in, one-out” pilot scheme.
Labour ministers believe the agreement can act as a deterrent to migrants attempting to cross the Channel in small boats, with home secretary Yvette Cooper and her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau signing the treaty last week.
Reducing immigration is becoming a more important voter issue, according to the latest City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll, while anti-migration protests outside asylum hotels have now spread into upmarket London areas including Islington.
Figures last week showed more than 25,000 migrants had arrived in the UK on small boats this year, the fastest time the milestone was passed.
Migrant returns deal to be ‘robustly’ defended
The pilot scheme, which will remain in place for the next 10 months, is likely to face opposition from critics who claim the initiative will fail to deter migrants from crossing in small boats as well as human rights groups including Amnesty International, which has previously signalled its opposition to “return hub” schemes led by Italy.
Home Office officials have said they were “prepared to robustly defend” the scheme against legal challenges in the initial trial phase as it looks to ramp up the pace of returns over the course of the year.
Officials said they had learnt the lessons of “lengthy legal challenges” after the previous government struck a deal with Rwanda, which would have seen asylum seekers get sent to the country while they waited for their claims to be processed.
EU countries, which were reportedly opposed to the migrant returns plans, have given the UK and France the green light for the scheme to come into force.
“For the first time, under this groundbreaking new treaty, people who undertake illegal, dangerous journeys to the UK – putting lives at risk and fuelling organised crime – can be returned to France,” Cooper said.
“In return, we will take people who apply legally with appropriate documentation to be transferred to the UK, subject to clear eligibility criteria and stringent security checks.
“This is an important step towards undermining the business model of the organised crime gangs that are behind these crossings, undermining their claims that those who travel to the UK illegally can’t be returned to France.”
Migrants who wish to arrive in the UK legally will be able to submit applications online, which has been described as a “new legal route”.
Civil servants will check the identities of applicants subject to “strict security and eligibility checks”.
The initiative is set to come alongside an extra £100m in funding for the National Crime Agency (NCA) as the UK hopes to target smuggling gangs, with 300 extra officers and improved detection technology introduced to upgrade border security.