PARIS (dpa-AFX) - For the first time, small boat migrants arriving in the UK face being detained and returned to France.
This is according to an agreement between UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron to take forward a groundbreaking partnership to address illegal Channel crossings and dismantle the people-smuggling gangs.
A new pilot scheme will see small boat arrivals being returned to France, and then an equal number of migrants will be able to come to the UK from France through a new legal route - fully documented and subject to strict security checks.
The pilot agreement is intended to prevent irregular migrant journeys across Europe to the UK and prevent dangerous small boat crossings, helping to undermine the business model of organised, criminal gangs profiting from people's misery by showing others these journeys could result in them being returned back to France, the Cabinet Office said.
Since June 2024, the government has returned more than 35,000 people with no right to be in the UK - a 28 percent increase in returns of failed asylum seekers and a 13 percent increase in overall returns compared to the previous year.
In the year ending in June 2025, there were 9,100 enforced returns, an increase of 25 percent on the previous year, continuing an increase seen over the last 4 years.
There were 5,300 foreign national offender returns in the year ending June 2025, an increase of 16 percent compared to the previous year. There were 26,761 voluntary returns in the year ending June 2025, up by 13% compared to the previous year.
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