OVER a thousand people crossed the English Channel in small boats yesterday as the Government sent a third person back to France.
The number of people making the crossing underlined the scale of the challenge facing Sir Keir Starmer‘s government as it battles to get a grip on the crisis.
AFPMigrants on board a smuggler’s boat yesterday[/caption]
Stuart BrockBorder Force escort migrants into Dover Docks, Kent[/caption]
The latest Home Office figures showed 1,072 made the journey in 13 boats.
It takes the number of people who have made the crossing so far in 2025 to 32,103 – a record for this point in a year.
Ministers hope the “one in, one out” deal with France will act as a deterrent, showing migrants they face being sent back if they travel across the Channel.
But the scale of Friday’s crossings suggested the policy was so far having little effect on those gathered on the beaches of northern France.
The third person sent back was an Iranian man who was returned to France on Friday.
This followed the removal of an Eritrean man earlier on Friday after he lost a High Court bid to halt his removal, and the deportation of another person on Thursday.
The first flights carrying asylum seekers from France to the UK under the reciprocal aspect of the deal are expected to take place next week.
Although they would not comment on numbers, a Home Office source said they were expected to be “at or close to parity”, given the “one in, one out” nature of the deal.
Ministers have praised the returns, with Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy saying they provided an “immediate deterrent” to people seeking to cross the Channel.
The Government intends to increase the number of people being sent back under the pilot deal over the coming months.
The deal with France means people who arrive in the UK by small boat can be detained and returned across the Channel, in exchange for an equivalent number of people who applied through a safe and legal route.
But shadow home secretary Chris Philp attacked the deal as providing “no deterrent effect whatsoever”.
He described the numbers returned as “pathetic” and saying “boasting about it is absurd”.
Home Office sources pointed to the fact these were forcible returns, and drew comparisons with the previous government’s deal with Rwanda – scrapped by Labour – that saw four volunteers go to the east African nation over two years.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump urged Sir Keir Starmer to “do whatever it takes” to stop boat crossings, including calling in the military.
The limited pilot scheme has been criticised by the Tories and Reform UK as a means of ending the boats saga, given the record numbers flooding into Britain.
Mr Trump has claimed a victory in wrestling down illegal border crossings in his own country after a series of curbs and deportations, and urged the PM to follow suit.
Asked by The Sun what his advice was for Sir Keir in tackling the migration crisis, the President said: “Your situation is very similar.
“You have people coming in and I told the Prime Minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.”
Only three migrants have been deported under Labour’s scheme, which was touted as a way to end the crisis, with up to 100 more set to be removed.
The scheme has run into problems from the outset with last minute legal bids delaying deportations and several flights leaving for France without any migrants on board.
Following the President’s words, dinghies full of young men still made their way out to sea from Gravelines, north-east Calais, bound for Britain in the past few days.
Asylum seekers were seen, dressed in orange life jackets, jostling to get onto boats.
The Channel migrants waded through chest high water in a bid to clamber aboard waiting dinghies.
Shabana Mahmood, Home Secretary, said the first deportation under the “one in, one out” scheme was “an important first step to securing our borders.”
She added: “It sends a message to people crossing in small boats: if you enter the UK illegally, we will seek to remove you.”
PAMigrants setting off from Gravelines, France, in the early hours[/caption]
ReutersIt comes after Trump urged Starmer to send in the military to stop the boats[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
