Britain’s failed “one in, one out” migrant returns deal with France has been scrapped after costing the taxpayer a whopping £84million.
Flights taking small boat migrants back to France will carry on for several weeks before the contentious deal comes to an end.
British officials were understood to be scrambling to keep the deal alive amid claims it had deterred illegal migrants from breaking into the UK.
But the Home Office confirmed the deal has now been ditched for good this afternoon.
A spokesman said: “We continue to work with France to relentlessly tackle small boat crossings, and we’ve made real progress.
“Numbers are significantly down on last year and crossings this summer were the lowest in 6 years.
“The Government’s pilot with France to remove asylum seekers in exchange for an equal number of legal migrants is no longer processing new cases.
“However, flights will continue over the coming weeks to swiftly remove small boat migrants from the UK, and we will use lessons learned from the pilot to accelerate efforts to return small boat migrants with no right to remain in the UK.”
Shabana Mahmood’s failed ‘one-in, one-out’ deal has been binned
| GETTY
Rumours that the deal was going to binned were rife overnight, as top officials across the UK and France signalled the end was nigh.
Last night, a senior French source told The Telegraph: “I’ve been told that the end date has been pushed back to the end of October, but that the one to one programme is still set to end then, and that between now and then, there’ll be one flight, maybe two.”
As of October 1, more than 1,500 individuals have been returned to France and just under 1,500 individuals have been moved to the UK under the deal, the Home Office said.
As a result, Labour’s scheme, which costs £56,000 to send back one asylum seeker, has cost the British taxpayer £84million to send back 1,500 illegal migrants.
BRITAIN’S BORDERS CRISIS – READ MORE:
