The Prime Minister has launched a fresh set of talks with France over a potential “one in, one out” migrant deal.
Under the scheme, Channel migrants would be sent back to France within weeks of their arrival in return for the UK taking asylum seekers from France.
Home Office sources told The Telegraph that the returns scheme was a “work in progress”.
There had been a deadlock between London and Paris, as French officials argued that any new agreement would have to be EU-wide.
Britain and France are in negotiations
PA
However, French interior minister Bruno Retailleau said that a deal with Westminster would “send a clear message” to others planning to make the journey.
French officials have also agreed to start intercepting migrant “taxi boats” at sea for the first time after previously refusing to do so for fear of breaching maritime safety laws.
An initial deal would be limited to the UK taking asylum seekers from France with family connections in Britain in return for a corresponding number of Channel migrants being returned to France.
However, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the scheme a “gimmick”, echoing Starmer’s language over the scrapped Rwanda scheme.
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Philp told The Telegraph: “We pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais, and in return we get a merry-go-round where the same number still come here.
“The French are failing to stop the boats at sea, failing to return them like the Belgians do, and now instead of demanding real enforcement, Labour are trying a ‘one in, one out’ gimmick.
“If Labour were serious, they would not have scrapped the returns deterrent the National Crime Agency said we needed – instead, they’ve surrendered our immigration system. Pathetic.”
Director of The Centre For Migration, Steven Woolfe, also slammed the idea, saying the idea was “nonsensical”.
Woolfe told GB News: “The idea of a one in, one out system is nonsensical. The theory is that if someone is denied asylum through an official hub in Paris or Lille and still chooses to cross on a boat, they’ll be returned.
“But in reality, they’ll keep trying until they get in. We’re already seeing this with people hiding in lorries, around 5,000 a year arrive this way.
“These routes existed before Brexit, under the old Dublin II system, and they continue now.
“Under Dublin II, we were supposed to be able to return people to France if they failed asylum tests. But in practice, we took in four times as many people from France as we sent back.”