Latest news with #returnsdeal
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
So much for a deterrent! Hundreds more Channel crossings pushes total migrant arrivals since Labour's 'one in one out' deal with France past 400
More than 400 small boat migrants have arrived in the first two days of Labour's returns deal, dashing claims it would be a 'new deterrent'. The Home Office confirmed 248 migrants were picked up in the Channel yesterday and brought into Dover. It followed 155 arrivals on Wednesday – the first operational day of the new Anglo-French treaty. The Government has refused to disclose how many migrants are being detained for removal to France. The scheme is also highly likely to face long-running legal challenges. Yesterday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was accused of 'gaslighting the British public' after he made 'grossly exaggerated' claims over the new deal. He took to social media to claim: 'If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also appeared to overstate the likely impact of her scheme, claiming that 'every migrant' will be 'throwing away their money if they get into a small boat'. In reality, the pilot scheme is only expected to return a tiny percentage of migrants. It will also expire in just 10 months' time, with any renewal then in doubt as the next French presidential election campaign will, by then, be gathering pace. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'The PM is gaslighting the British public. 'His tweet is a gross exaggeration of what this paltry scheme will do.' The number of migrants to have reached Britain since the start of the year now stands at 25,839, 46 per cent higher than at the same point last year. Last month Downing Street said the British and French governments had agreed a 'new deterrent' was required to combat small boats, leading to the signing of the treaty. Sir Keir then pledged migrants would be 'detained and returned to France in short order'. Migrants selected for removal will be held in Home Office detention facilities rather than being sent to live in taxpayer-funded asylum hotels. But it has emerged that three large hotels are being used to hold migrants at one of Britain's busiest seaside resorts. The properties, all within walking distance of Bournemouth seafront, have been closed to the public for more than a year after being taken over by the Home Office, the Sun reported. One holidaymaker who paid £1,400 for a week at the resort with her daughter said she was 'cross' that migrants were being housed there at the taxpayers' expense.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
First migrants detained under returns deal with France
Migrants who crossed the English Channel have been detained for deportation to France under the new "one in one out" returns deal. The first detentions came after pictures showed people on small boats headed for the UK on Wednesday, the day the pilot scheme came into force. The government has not said how many people have been detained. An announcement from the Home Office said the detentions began for those who arrived by small boat on Wednesday lunchtime, and those people will be held in immigration removal centres pending their return. Sir Keir Starmer wrote on the X social media platform: "We have detained the first illegal migrants under our new deal before returning them to France. "No gimmicks, just results. If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. "When I say I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it." The scheme, which was agreed last month and came into force yesterday, allows adults arriving on a small boat to be sent back to France. In exchange, the UK will allow an approved asylum seeker in France to be brought here via a safe route. The application process for those in France hoping to apply to come to the UK has now also been launched by the Home Office this morning. Neither side has put a figure on how many people they expect to be returned. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the public would be updated about the scheme "at every stage", but that she won't "provide operational details that criminal gangs can simply use and exploit". She added: "No one should be in any doubt. Anyone who arrives from now on is eligible for immediate detention and return, and this pilot will now build because we are determined that no one should be making this journey." This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the latest version. You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Sky News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
First migrants detained under returns deal with France
The first people have been detained under the "one in, one out" returns deal agreed with France, Sir Keir Starmer has announced. The prime minister wrote on the X social media platform: "We have detained the first illegal migrants under our new deal before returning them to France. "No gimmicks, just results. If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. "When I say I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it." It is not clear how many people have been detained. The Home Office said the detentions began for those who arrived by small boat yesterday lunchtime, and those people will be held in immigration removal centres pending their return. It added that it will make referrals to the French within three days, and then they will have 14 days to respond. The scheme, which was agreed last month and came into force yesterday, allows adults arriving on a small boat to be sent back to France. In exchange, the UK will allow an approved asylum seeker in France with links to the UK to be brought here via a safe route. The application process for those in France hoping to apply to come to the UK has now also been launched by the Home Office this morning. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Tory benches almost deserted as Philp cops a lesson on small boats
It was all a bit of a mystery. Just where were the Tories? Had they just got their dates confused? Thought that recess started this week rather than next? Or had they all bunked off to Lord's to see England beat India in a tight finish? Or maybe some – caught up in the entente amicale aftermath of Emmanuel Macron's state visit – had taken the Eurostar to Paris to enjoy steak frites on Bastille Day? You'd have thought the Conservative backbenchers would have wanted to be out in force to hear Yvette Cooper's statement on the new arrangements for dealing with small boats. After all, this is the stuff that Kemi Badenoch and Chris Philp live and breathe. The reason they get up in the morning. To wage a two-person war on those making the Channel crossing. So surely Tory MPs would be desperate to have their say. A show of strength. But weirdly there were only five and most of them were to scuttle off long before the end. When Keir Starmer had announced his new 'one in, one out' returns deal with Macron last Thursday, he had sounded slightly too keen. As if he was somehow trying to overcompensate for the fact that he hadn't landed quite the deal he had hoped. Desperate to talk up that 50 returns a week was a sizeable deterrent to those thinking of making the crossing. Not that he was willing to discuss any numbers. Though 50 was the magic number. The difference between success and failure. Four days on and the home secretary had no such qualms as she made a statement to the Commons on the new initiative. Everything has been too weak for far too long, she said. It all started in 2018 and had got steadily worse. But everything was going to stop right now. New cooperation. Stronger borders. Great new deal with France. It might not be the best deal going, but it was the first of its kind. Better than the Tories had managed to negotiate after they had spent every year since Brexit slagging off the French. One Tory who had turned up was Philp, the shadow home secretary. Though by the end he was probably wishing he hadn't. Because, as the saying goes, he had his arse handed to him on a plate. The Philpster's tragedy is that he sees himself as one of life's success stories. While everyone else sees him as rather a sad loser. Someone who will say almost anything to advance his career, failing to perceive the embarrassment he is causing himself. A more able, psychologically healthy person knows when to cut their losses. Understands there are some battles not worth fighting. Chris just crashes and burns. 'The home secretary sounds rather pleased with herself,' the Philpster observed. Pots and kettles. Chris never doesn't sound pleased with himself. Even when he's drowning not waving. But in this he was right. A stopped clock and all that. Yvette did sound pleased with herself. But then who wouldn't, knowing that Philp was your opposite number. He is licensed to fail. Chris carried on mansplaining. The new returns scheme was just a gimmick. What was really needed was a mass deportation scheme. Just like the massively brilliant Rwanda scheme that was on the verge of emptying every hotel for asylum seekers in the country when Rishi Sunak called the last election. Truly, the Philpster is the living embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect. The effortless rise of the dimerati. It's not at all certain if Chris has yet grasped the link between cause and effect. He concluded by saying that everyone arriving by irregular routes was a potential rapist, before sitting down triumphantly. Forgive him, Lord, for he knows not what he does. This was the moment for which Cooper had been waiting. The bit which makes her job worthwhile. Yes, she has to suck up endless bad news stories about more and more small-boat crossings but on the plus side she gets to take out her feelings on the Philpster. She tried to give Chris a quick reality check. Who had been the immigration minister when the number of irregular migrants had gone up tenfold. Chris put up his hand. He had. Who had been the immigration minister who had promised the home affairs select committee that he was very optimistic about getting a returns deal with France in 2020? Again the Philpster's arm shot up. Who was the immigration minister who had achieved and changed nothing. Up went the arm again. Did he now think it might have been a good idea to have tried treating the French with respect? Now his arm stayed down. You can take a horse to water … The Philpster's humiliation wasn't quite over yet. Next he had to take some incoming from John Glen, one of the very few of his own MPs who had bothered to attend. While wondering if 50 returns per week would do the trick, Glen admitted his own party had completely failed on immigration while in power and that it had deserved to lose the last election because of it. Talk of kicking a man when he's down. Still, to give Chris some credit, at least he bothered to show his face. For an earlier statement by Ed Miliband on the state of climate change and nature, his opposite number, Claire Coutinho, didn't bother. Perhaps she is punchdrunk from a year of always being on the wrong end of Ed's sarcasm. She is the original quarterwit. Someone who can only dream of being a halfwit. Or perhaps, she can no longer bring herself to defend her party's increasingly climate sceptic conspiracy theories. Either way, it's time to put her out of her misery. So it was left to shadow junior minister Andrew Bowie to reply to Miliband's impassioned statement on the need to act urgently to protect the planet. Bowie's answer was to channel his inner Kemi. And Nigel Farage for that matter. Why should we do anything, he said. It probably wasn't going to make any difference so just let the planet burn and flood. There was no point worrying about what might happen in 2050. Just drill, baby, drill. Come the end of the statement there was just one Tory backbencher left in the chamber. This is the party that complains about everyone working from home. Do as I say, not as I do.
Sky News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
What is the UK-France migrant returns deal, who will be returned and how many?
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed a returns deal in an attempt to reduce the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. The UK and French leaders announced the "one in, one out" agreement on 10 July after months of talks. This is what we know about the deal: What is the basic agreement? The UK will be able to send migrants who enter the UK on small boats back to France. For each one returned, the UK will allow an asylum seeker to enter through a safe and legal route - as long as they have not previously tried to enter illegally. The two leaders, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, were clear it is a pilot, for now. 3:01 When will it begin? Sir Keir said it will start "in the coming weeks", but did not give a specific date. Who will be returned? There have been no details released on how the government will select who is returned, but the initial focus will be on adults and they will not split up families. They will be held in removal centres before being sent back to France. It is not clear how long the process will take, but it is understood migrants will be returned weekly. 0:27 How many will be returned? Sir Keir and Mr Macron mentioned no numbers, but it is understood around 50 people a week will be returned to France. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News: "We haven't fixed the ultimate numbers yet." She said that was because it is just a pilot at this stage, but that there was a plan to increase the numbers returned. Since the start of March, an average of more than 1,000 people have arrived in small boats every week. Sending 50 of them back would represent less than 5% of that total. Is the deal set in stone? For now, it is just a pilot, so the final details will not be set until later. The government has not said how long it will run as a pilot. The deal also needs approval from the EU, with France saying it needed to be legally ratified before being put into action. The home secretary said she thought the European Commission would sign it off, despite some Mediterranean countries' concerns about returned asylum seekers travelling back to southern Europe. She told Sky News she had been talking to France's interior minister since October about the deal, and had also been talking to EU commissioners, who represent all 27 member states and she said had been "very supportive". What else is being done to tackle illegal migration in the UK? Mr Macron has repeatedly said the UK needs to address "pull factors". The Home Office has said authorities will soon undertake "a major nationwide blitz targeting illegal working hotspots, focusing on the gig economy and migrants working as delivery riders". Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat have already committed to ramp up facial verification and fraud checks in the coming months after ministers called them in for talks. 2:28 The government has also introduced eVisas for people in the UK on a visa to make it easy to identify those who are in the UK legally. For the first time, France has also agreed to allow police officers to enter the water from the beaches in northern France to try to stop the boats from leaving. Over the past two weeks, they have been filmed slashing the rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) the people smugglers load up with migrants. The British government, which is helping fund the French police's efforts, is pushing France to go further and let officers intervene against boats in deeper waters.
