Migrants could be barred from asylum in Britain under deal with France
The two countries are preparing to announce a deal where the French take back migrants who have illegally crossed the Channel in small boats, while the UK accepts a similar number of asylum seekers from France.
This so-called 'one-in, one-out' agreement is an attempt to break the business model of the people-smuggling gangs by showing that migrants will be returned to France once they reach UK shores.
In order to return the migrants to France, however, immigration advisers say that ministers will be required to deny them the right to claim asylum in the UK.
It comes as the number of migrants crossing the Channel this year passed the 20,000 mark, a new record for the first half of the year. On Tuesday, the Home Office confirmed 19,982 migrants had arrived by the end of June, 48 per cent higher than the same point last year.
One option for returning migrants would be to use the Tories' 2022 Nationality and Borders Act, which allows the Government to declare a Channel migrant's asylum claim inadmissible, specifically when a person has a connection to a safe third country, according to legal experts.
This means that the UK could deem a claim inadmissible if the migrant had travelled through France, a safe country to which they could be returned.
Under the deal, there would be a parallel process in France where a joint UK-French system would be set up to identify asylum seekers who could come to the UK.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is thought to believe migrants in France with a family connection in the UK should be prioritised. Some experts, however, believe that the process confirming family links could be complex and have suggested it would be more practicable to target migrants from countries with high rates of asylum grants.
The scheme is said by sources to be 'evolving' and 'a work in progress', but there are hopes it could be trailed at next week's Anglo-French summit from July 8 to 10, when President Emmanuel Macron comes to London for his state visit. It would be a major breakthrough after Brexit killed off a previous returns agreement with the EU.
The Government is proposing to pilot the scheme to iron out any problems. It is unclear how long it could take to declare Channel migrants' asylum claims inadmissible and give them an opportunity to make any appeals against their return. The Tories only removed 23 migrants whose claims were deemed inadmissible.
Migrants are likely to be returned to locations across France, away from its northern coasts. Any that tried to re-enter would be identified through their biometric details and sent back once again.
The European Commission has contacted the UK because of concerns among other countries, including Italy, Spain and Greece, that the one-in, one-out deal could mean they face an influx of deported migrants. Under the EU's Dublin agreement, migrants can be sent back to the EU country where they first landed.
'We are in contact with the French and the UK authorities to ensure the necessary clarifications are made,' a European Commission spokesman said.
France has 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.
The policy change will see elite French police officers authorised to stop boats within 300 metres of shore and is expected to be confirmed at the summit.
Two major resettlement routes that brought Afghan refugees to the UK are to be closed, the Government announced on Tuesday.
More than 30,000 Afghans have been brought to the UK, but charities warned that it closed a 'lifeline' to thousands more who could seek to flee the Taliban.
'Four years on from the Taliban takeover, people in Afghanistan are still in need of protection, and this sudden closure comes with no clear plan for people at real risk and in need of safety,' said Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council.
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