The first flight to France carrying people who crossed the Channel under Keir Starmer’s “one in, one out” deal has not taken place as planned, according to reports.

A small group of individuals were removed from an Air France flight on Monday due to travel from Heathrow to Paris after a legal challenge, according to multiple newspaper reports.

The passenger flight went ahead without any people who crossed the Channel on board and is one of several throughout the week on which the Home Office has booked seats. A government source said the first deportation flights under the deal with France are expected to take place this week.

Earlier on Monday the skills minister, Jacqui Smith, refused to say how many people will be returned to France this week under the deal, while French officials are reported to have said they will only be accepting a small initial contingent of deportations.

The pilot scheme, announced during Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the UK in July, allows the UK to send asylum seekers who have travelled across the Channel back to France in exchange for those who apply and are given approval to come to Britain.

Formal removal directions are understood to have been issued to those who arrived in the UK on small boats last month, telling them they will be deported within five days.

The number of people arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel has surpassed 30,000 for the year so far, the earliest point in a calendar year at which the figure has been reached since data was first reported in 2018.