Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship “one in, one out” scheme is returning just 12 migrants a week to France despite initial promises of 50 people a week, new data shows.
The pilot, which launched last August, faces being thrown into disarray by a fresh round of legal claims from migrants challenging the lawfulness of the deal.
So far, 377 people have been returned to France under the controversial scheme, averaging around 12 a week, and 380 have come to the UK in exchange. Under the pilot, small boat migrants who make the perilous journey across the Channel are deported back to Paris, with other migrants allowed to apply for asylum in the UK from France.
The media were initially briefed that the number of people deported back to France would be around 50 a week.
Announcing the agreement alongside French president Emmanuel Macron last summer, Sir Keir promised that the scheme targeting small boat migrants “will show others trying to make the same journey that it will be in vain”.
Thousands of asylum seekers have risked their lives by making the dangerous Channel crossing since the scheme started, with 721 arriving in the past seven days.
Sir Keir said at the end of last year that he wanted to “ramp up” the one in, one out returns agreement despite “the legal challenges that have been piling in on us”.
The High Court heard last month that, as of the end of January, 40 per cent of migrants detained under the one in, one out removal deal have made trafficking claims.
More than a dozen migrants, some of whom have already been deported to France, have brought a joint claim to the High Court, arguing that the scheme is unlawful. They claim that French authorities do not support victims of trafficking and that men in France were not receiving the same help as women and children.
They are also challenging the Home Office’s policy to block migrants from contesting decisions made on their modern slavery claims. The lawfulness of the way the scheme is operated will be considered at a future hearing at the High Court.
The number of people arriving in the UK on small boats rose by 13 per cent year-on-year to 45,774, recent government figures show. This is still lower than the 2022 peak.
Small boat migrants accounted for 41 per cent of the total number of people claiming asylum last year, with Eritreans the most common nationality arriving in the UK after making the perilous journey across the Channel.
Home Office data revealed that migrants are now making the crossing in larger dinghies with an average of 71 people in each boat in the winter months last year. Some 39 per cent of asylum seekers claimed sanctuary after entering the UK on a visa or on other legal routes.
The data comes as an Eritrean trafficking victim reportedly had their removal to France halted by a High Court judge this week.
The asylum seeker, 31, had their removal paused over concerns about access to accommodation and healthcare support in France, The Guardian reported.
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