Yvette Cooper today failed to guarantee that Channel migrants will definitely start being sent back to France this month under Labour‘s ‘one in, one out’ deal.
The Home Secretary said the first returns are ‘expected this month’, but she was careful not to promise deportations will absolutely go ahead in September.
It came after Ms Cooper admitted to the House of Commons yesterday that no Channel migrants are yet to be returned to France under the much-vaunted deal.
Ministers had claimed when the agreement was announced in July that it would take effect within weeks.
The first small boat arrivals due to be returned were detained in Dover at the start of August.
But the Home Secretary told MPs on Monday that she now expects deportations to begin ‘later this month’.
Some 3,567 more people have landed in dinghies since the deal with France was ratified – adding to the record numbers arriving this year.
Ms Cooper was asked by Sky News on Tuesday as to whether she could guarantee returns would begin amid reports the crisis-hit French government may falter on the deal.
She insisted the UK would ‘continue to work’ with France. But, pressed for a guarantee, she replied: ‘We expect the first returns to take place this month.
‘But I’ve always said from the very beginning on this, it’s a pilot scheme and it needs to build up over time.’
Yvette Cooper failed to guarantee that Channel migrants will definitely start being sent back to France this month under Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ deal
People swim to try and board a dinghy in the English Channel near Gravelines, northern France
The Home Seceretary contrasted her ‘practical and sensible’ approach with that of the previous Tory government over the now-scrapped Rwanda scheme
She swiped the Conservatives had ‘spent £700 million and sent four volunteers after running it for two years’.
In a round of TV and radio interviews this morning, Ms Cooper appeared confident that Labour could speed up efforts to empty hotels housing asylum seekers.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday he wants to move more quickly to clear migrants from hotels than the Government’s self-imposed deadline by the end of the Parliament, which could be as late as 2029.
‘We do believe it can be done earlier,’ Ms Cooper told Times Radio.
Ministers’ ability to do this is ‘dependent on a whole series of factors’, she added, while declining to set out a timetable.
The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, became the focal point of several demonstrations and counter-protests in recent weeks after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl last month.
He has denied the charges.
Ms Cooper announced to the Commons on Monday that new applications to the existing refugee family reunion route will be suspended this week.
This means refugees will be covered by ‘the same family migration rules and conditions as everyone else’ until new rules are introduced.
Further reforms to family reunion routes will be outlined later this year and introduced by spring.
On Tuesday, she also confirmed ministers are seeking to crack down on international students claiming asylum once their visas come to an end.
‘Up to 15,000 students each year end up claiming asylum’, she told BBC Breakfast.
The Home Office is launching a new campaign where, for the first time, it will directly contact international students and their families by email or text, warning them they must leave if they have no right to remain.
Nearly 10,000 students and dependants were contacted last week and tens of thousands more are expected to receive the guidance in the coming weeks ahead of their visas expiring.
The message also warns an asylum claim that lacks merit will be ‘swiftly and robustly refused’.
On Monday night, Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the Mail: ‘The Government claimed in July that a handful of migrants would be sent back to France within weeks – but it’s now September and not a single person has been sent back.
‘Under Labour, a small boat to the UK is a one-way ticket to one of Keir Starmer’s cushy hotels – paid for by hard-pressed taxpayers. This weak government has lost control of our borders and won’t do what is needed to fix it.
‘Labour has flung open the doors to the UK and this year they have let in the highest number of illegal immigrants across the channel ever.
‘They are too weak to do what’s needed to fix this – which is make sure that every single illegal immigrant is removed immediately upon arrival. Then, no one would bother crossing in the first place.’
Ms Cooper admitted to the House of Commons yesterday that no Channel migrants are yet to be returned to France under the much-vaunted deal
The one in, one out deal was announced by the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron on July 10 at the end of the Anglo-French summit
The one-in, one-out deal was announced by the Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron on July 10th at the end of the Anglo-French summit.
Sir Keir said at the time that the ‘ground-breaking’ pilot project – under which some migrants arriving in small boats would be detained and returned to France while the same number of genuine asylum-seekers would be allowed to come to the UK – would begin ‘in the coming weeks’.
The Home Secretary also told MPs on July 14th that the expectation was ‘that that pilot will be operationalised in the coming weeks’.
It was announced on August 4th that the treaty had been ratified, then the Home Office revealed that ‘detentions began for those who arrived in the UK on a small boat’ on August 6th, stating: ‘The UK will make referrals to France within 3 days, and the French authorities will be expected to respond within 14 days.’
But almost four weeks on, the cases are still being processed although sources insisted that those detained are still being held.
Ms Cooper told the Commons on Monday: ‘In August I signed the new treaty with France allowing us for the first time to directly return those who arrive on small boats.
‘The first detentions took place the next day – of people immediately on arrival at Dover. And we expect the first returns to begin later this month.
Applications have also been opened for the reciprocal legal route, with the first cases under consideration, subject to the strict security checks.’
But asked how many people would be returned over the coming year, amid reports that it could be fewer than 50 a week, she replied: ‘We have set out that this is a pilot, and that we want to build and grow it.
‘There is no cap on the overall numbers to go as part of the pilot, and we need to build it as we go.’
