Home Secretary Yvette Cooper today refused to say how many migrants will be returned to France under Labour’s new ‘one in, one out’ deal because it ‘could help the smuggling gangs’.
Migrants who arrive by small boat from tomorrow could face being selected for the scheme and placed in detention instead of being sent to taxpayer-funded hotels.
The Home Office will then work with French counterparts to return the migrants in return for Britain accepting others still in France with stronger asylum claims.
However, the much-trumpeted deal has come under fresh scrutiny after it emerged the agreement will expire in just 11 months.
And this morning, Ms Cooper declined to say how many migrants she expects to be able to send back – claiming this information could be useful to smugglers.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: ‘We will provide regular updates, people will be able to see how many people are being detained, how many people are being returned, and it is right that we should be transparent around that.
‘But we’re not setting the numbers in advance, firstly because there is no fixed number in terms of the overall number of people to come through this system, and secondly because we’re not going to provide (gangs) with that operational information.’
Migrants who arrive by small boat from tomorrow could face being selected for the scheme and placed in detention instead of being sent to taxpayer-funded hotels. Pictured: Arrivals in Dover last month
Yvette Cooper refused to say how many migrants she expects to be able to send back as part of the scheme
The arrangement with Emmanuel Macron’s government will lapse at the end of June next year – just 47 weeks away – unless it is renewed.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the ‘meagre’ and ‘short-term’ deal would splutter to a halt even before the start of next year’s peak small boats season.
Meanwhile, pro-migrant groups have already indicated they are poised to bring legal challenges – just as they did against the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda asylum deal.
There was no mention of an expiry date for the new treaty when it was first announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Macron last month.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Over this period both countries have committed to continually review and improve the process and effectiveness of this innovative approach, pending decisions on the long-term future of the arrangements after June 2026.’
Last month it was suggested the scheme would see 50 migrants a week sent back to France. At that rate, just 2,350 would be returned before the agreement expires.
By comparison, a record 25,436 migrants have reached Britain by small boat since the start of this year.
The spokesman refused to reveal how many migrants will be targeted for removal, but said the Government had ‘an ambition to scale up’ the numbers.
Last night the PM said: ‘Today we send a clear message – if you come here illegally on a small boat you will face being sent back to France. This is the product of months of grown-up diplomacy delivering real results for British people as we broker deals no government has been able to achieve and strike at the heart of these vile gangs’ business model.’
Mr Philp said: ‘This is a short-term arrangement that will only last a few months and will expire before next year’s peak crossing season. This meagre arrangement will be no more effective than the Government’s previous gimmick, which was claiming to ‘smash the gangs’.
‘The Rwanda removals deterrent, under which 100 per cent of illegal arrivals would be removed, was ready to go last summer but Labour cancelled it just days before it was due to start with no proper replacement plan. As a result, this year so far has been the worst ever for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel.’
Today, Ms Cooper accepted that the deal would not end Channel crossings on its own, but pointed to a similar accord between Greece and Turkey in 2016 which she said brought down numbers of migrants to Greece.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Cooper said: ‘We never claimed that there is a single silver bullet on this. So this goes alongside the 28% increase in returns of failed asylum seekers that we have brought in.
‘It goes alongside the change to those French maritime rules that I referred to which means France taking action in French waters to prevent boat crossings in the first place, and the much stronger law enforcement that we announced earlier this week with the additional National Crime Agency investigators and police to be able to go after the criminal gangs. We have to do all of these things.’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron announced the new returns deal last month after a summit in Westminster
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the ‘meagre’ and ‘short-term’ deal would splutter to a halt even before the start of next year’s peak small boats season
From tomorrow, any new Channel arrivals will be taken to the Home Office’s processing centre at Manston, near Ramsgate, Kent, and assessed by Border Force officials.
Any selected for the returns scheme will be transferred to short-term immigration holding facilities operated by the Home Office, such as those at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
After further assessment, they could be sent to an immigration removal centre to await return to France.
It is hoped the first migrants will be returned by the end of August and detention space has already been set aside for the launch of the scheme.
However, it is likely to face legal challenges – possibly as early as this week.
A spokesman for the charity which helped blocked the Tories’ Rwanda scheme, Care4Calais, said last night: ‘We will consider all options open to us to oppose any plans that will put more lives at risk and involve governments trading humans.’
The Home Office spokesman said: ‘The UK government is prepared to robustly defend any legal challenges to removal within the initial trial phase, as we look to ramp up both the pace and scale of returns over the course of the pilot scheme.’
