People arriving in the UK via small boats will be returned to France as part of what Keir Starmer called a groundbreaking agreement which the government hopes will make a major dent in the number of people crossing the Channel illegally.
Starmer and Emmanuel Macron announced the plan on Thursday at the Northwood military base at the end of the French president’s three-day state visit.
Under the “one in, one out” pilot scheme, British officials will detain some of those who cross the Channel and send them back to France, in return taking an asylum seeker in France who can show they have family connections in Britain.
The scheme is uncertain in scale and timing, but is nevertheless the first time such an agreement has been struck between the two countries. It is also the first time the government has increased the number of safe routes through which asylum seekers are able to reach Britain.
Speaking in a joint press conference, Starmer said: “There is no silver bullet here, but with a united effort, new tactics and a new level of intent, we can finally turn the tables.
“For the very first time, migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France in short order.”
Macron also welcomed the scheme, while blaming Brexit on various occasions for the number of people crossing the Channel illegally.
“Many people explained that Brexit would make it more possible to fight effectively against illegal migration,” he said. “But since Brexit the UK has no illegal migration agreement with the EU … That creates an incentive to make the crossing, the precise opposite of what Brexit promised.
“The British people were sold a lie, which was that [migration] was a problem with Europe. With your government, we’re pragmatic, and for the first time in nine years we are providing a response.”
The pilot is expected to begin in the coming weeks and will include a safe and controlled route “only open to those who have not tried to enter the UK illegally”, the prime minister said.
Those who have crossed the Channel will have biometrics collected at Manston immigration centre, and those who have been identified as suitable to be part of the pilot agreement will be detained.
Starmer refused to say how people would be chosen for return to France, but those who are deemed to qualify will be told their claim is inadmissible in the UK because they have arrived from a safe country. People will have the ability to claim any exceptional circumstances that may mean that they are not suitable for return.
Those in France who wish to travel to the UK will be allowed to apply via an online platform and if successful will be allowed to claim asylum in the UK.
According to a report in Le Monde earlier this week, the pilot scheme would lead to the return of only 50 people a week, a fraction of the number who cross. Starmer did not deny that report, but declined to say how many people would be returned under the pilot.
Macron declined to say whether the scheme would expand as British officials have promised. He said: “I’m totally committed to make it work, because this is clearly our willingness and our common interest. And in this pilot project, I wanted to insist on one point – that there is a deterrent effect.
“What we want to do is precisely to have this deterrent effect so that all these smugglers … sense the message that we are efficient and they have no more interest to try.”
He added that he wanted to secure the agreement of other European countries before implementing the deal, with Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus all having expressed concerns.
Starmer said: “This will show others trying to make the same journey that it will be in vain, and the jobs they have been promised in the UK will no longer exist because of the nationwide crackdown we’re delivering on illegal working, which is on a completely unprecedented scale.”
He also defended the concept of safe routes of asylum despite objections from the populist right. “We accept genuine asylum seekers because it is right that we offer a haven to those in most dire need,” he said.
“But there is also something else, something more practical, which is that we simply cannot solve a challenge like stopping the boats by acting alone and telling our allies that we won’t play ball.
“That is why today’s agreement is so important, because we will solve this, like so many of our problems, by working together.”
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate more closely on using their nuclear deterrent – something Macron called historic and that could involve the two countries using their weapons in tandem should Europe come under attack.
Macron also challenged Starmer to recognise the state of Palestine, something France has pushed the UK to do for months.
Both men were effusive in their praise of each other and the relationship they have forged during Starmer’s first year in power.
Macron also had some words of electoral advice for his fellow beleaguered centrist. “Never cede to the temptation of populism, which is the denial of science or a travesty of the facts,” he said.
“Populists sold you a response which is through nationalist withdrawal. Budgetary, immigration, growth problems from nine years ago. Were they solved by Brexit? No.”
