More than 100 people who have crossed the Channel on small boats have been detained before potential removal to France, under the new “one in, one out” scheme, the government has said.
No one has yet been granted a safe route to the UK, a government source told the Guardian, after reports that migrants in Calais were becoming frustrated with a lack of response when they tried to apply.
A source said because the scheme was reciprocal, the first arrivals “will come alongside returns in the coming weeks”. Those detained will be held in detention centres until that point.
A number of those waiting to cross in small boats on the French beaches told reporters from the Times they had not received any response from the government’s formal scheme for people to apply to come to the UK via a new safe route, in exchange for the deportation of those crossing on irregular routes such as small boats.
More than 200 people crossed the Channel to Britain on boats on Sunday, during clearer weather.
Ministers say they plan to launch a mass communications campaign to people waiting in camps in northern France to warn them that they risk being deported back to France, though opposition parties have claimed the numbers will be roughly one in 17 of those crossing the Channel.
A government source said: “Detentions of those arriving from France have been taking place over the last 24 hours, so these three small boat migrants may end up finding themselves being bussed to a detention centre before the day is out.
“We are shortly launching a big communications campaign right along the northern French coast, warning those in camps that if they travel they will be returned to France and that the money they have paid to criminal smuggling gangs will have been wasted.”
The source denied that potential asylum seekers needed a fixed address to make the claim for a safe route and said all of those who applied received communication from the Home Office.
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, will on Tuesday outline proposals for what he will term a mass deportation programme, including the detention of new arrivals at military bases and expanding the number of third countries such as Rwanda potentially willing to take deportees.
In an earlier interview with the Times, Farage did not rule out doing deals with regimes such as the Taliban in order to send asylum seekers back to Afghanistan.
His plan would include withdrawing from the European convention on human rights and replacing the Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights.
“The time has come to put this country first,” Farage said, writing for the Telegraph. “This is all a question of priorities. Is Keir Starmer on the side of the British people, national security and protecting women and girls – or is he on the side of outdated international treaties and human rights lawyers?”
The Home Office minister Angela Eagle on Monday accused opposition parties of offering “the fag-packet plans without the substance on delivery”.
“This government inherited chaos in the asylum system and a border security system in tatters,” she said. “Since the election we have been rebuilding the foundations of both, saving £1bn in asylum accommodation costs, increasing removals of those with no right to be here, and bringing forward new laws to make it easier to deport sex offenders, which both Reform and the Tories voted against.
“Under the Tories we had years of fantasy solutions, which we were told would stop the boats, but which simply cost a fortune and had no impact. Reform look to be offering more of the same. These are back-of-the-fag-packet plans without the substance on delivery.
“Illegal migration is a complex, global problem requiring serious and sustainable policies, including working closely with partners overseas. Only the Labour government is offering that kind of plan.”
