Dozens of migrants are returned to France under Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ deal…. as hundreds more arrive in Britain on small boats

Another 16 immigrants who entered the UK illegally were returned to France this week under the Labor Party’s ‘one in, one out’ deal, while hundreds more crossed the Channel on smaller boats.

The Home Office confirmed this week that the returns brought the total number deported under the agreement to 42.

The controversial agreement, which came into force on August 6, was designed by Labor to deter migrants from crossing the border.

However, last week, 401 more immigrants arrived in England on small boats.

Since the agreement came into force, Britain has accepted a further 23 immigrants from France.

This is part of the ‘inward’ route agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron in the summer.

Home Office statistics show no small boat crossings were recorded between Tuesday and Friday.

But a quiet week was followed by a busy Saturday, when 369 people crossed in seven small boats.

The total number of immigrants who have crossed so far this year has reached 37,734. That’s just 80 short of the 2024 total of 36,816.

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood said: ‘For many years illegal immigrants have entered our country without facing any consequences.

‘This is the largest return flight under our historic agreement with the French. He also gives a warning to those considering entering this country illegally: If you come here by small boat, you may be sent back.

‘This is just the beginning; I will extend these suspensions to France. And I will do whatever it takes to secure our borders.’

Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Conservatives’ Rwanda asylum deal, designed to deter crossings and save lives, as one of his first acts in office.

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp had previously described the deal as a ‘massive fraud’.

He said: ‘The Labor Party is defrauding the British people.

‘More than 10,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel since the deal came into force and Labor has only removed 26.

‘This of course won’t deter anyone.

Several small boats operated by suspected migrants are seen at a storage facility in Dover, Kent

‘We need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which will allow us to deport people in a matter of days; This will be a real deterrent.’

Labour’s deal has been rolled out slowly after being mired in legal challenges, and even when fully operational it is expected to remove only around 50 migrants a week.

It was also revealed this week that only 12 staff were working on the Home Office extradition agreement.

Martin Hewitt admitted to the House of Commons home affairs select committee that the team dedicated to working on the deal was small, The Times reported.

He stressed to MPs that ‘lots of other people’ were also involved.

The official highlighted staff at the Manston center in Kent who process immigrants selected for removal.

It also recorded those at the immigration detention center at Heathrow, where immigrants are held before being deported to France.

Overall, more than 5,000 officers across the Home Office and the National Crime Agency (NCA) are working on the small boat crisis.

Under the plan agreed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured at the summit in July), for every person it takes in, the UK grants asylum to another from France.

Border Security Command, the immigration enforcement agency where Hewitt started after his appointment a year ago, funds about 1,000 of them.

So far this year, 36,365 migrants have crossed the Channel; This figure is one-third more than this time last year.

The record was broken in 2022, when 37,099 immigrants arrived by this time of the year.

Mr Hewitt said: ‘I, more than anyone else, find the figures frustrating and truly challenging, and this issue could not be more high-profile.

‘But I believe that the plan, the cross-spectrum plan that we have, is a plan that will succeed, but we need to continue to push and implement that plan.’

He also expressed disappointment, telling the committee that the plan was beset by other difficulties.

Bureaucratic and legal difficulties prevent French police officers from intervening in small boats up to 300 meters from shore, the official said.

He explained that the force is still being given specialist training to ensure they are not responsible for any deaths that may occur in the process.

It also comes amid instability in the French government, which collapsed for the third time in a year earlier this month.

Although Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu was reappointed after his resignation with two votes of confidence, interior minister Bruno Retailleau, who accepted the changes to the border, was replaced.

The French government had promised that officers would intercept the boats by the end of the summer.

But currently, boats cannot legally intervene once they are in the water unless passengers request to be rescued.

Delays in enforcement also came from the French police union, which demanded better equipment and protection.

Mr Hewitt said it would be easier to prevent crossings if officers could intervene.

However, when asked about this by a House of Commons committee, he said ‘we are waiting for him to be appointed’.

The commander continued: ‘President Macron touched on this when he spoke to the prime minister at the summit in July, so it is frustrating that it has taken this long… political instability is clearly the background to this.’

Britain’s border security commander, Martin Hewitt, admitted to the House of Commons home affairs select committee that the team dedicated to working on the deal was small. Image: French police officers take photographs of migrants boarding a small boat from France to the UK on September 19, 2025

He explained that violence and deaths increased during Canal crossings, as poor immigrants from the Horn of Africa attacked small boats without paying the passage fee.

The most common nationality of migrants crossing the Channel in the first half of this year was Eritrea, with 3,543 people from this country making the journey.

Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia were in the top eight.

NCA operations director general Rob Jones told a House of Commons committee: ‘This year the Horn of Africa group has increased those numbers through their violent behavior and subsequent compromise with smugglers, and that’s what we’re talking about in terms of injuries and deaths.’