Keir Starmer ramped up his war of words with Nigel Farage today accusing the Reform leader of wanting his controversial ‘one in, one out’ Channel deal to fail.
The PM insisted Mr Farage would become ‘irrelevant’ if illegal immigration comes under control as he desperately defended the pact with France.
Sir Keir trumpeted the agreement as the major win from Emmanuel Macron‘s State Visit to the UK last week.
In theory it would mean some of making the perilous crossing would be immediately returned to France, with the UK instead accepting other asylum seekers.
Sir Keir argues that the scheme can act as a deterrent. But he has refused to say how many of the thousands arriving in Britain by dinghy will actually be removed.
Leaks had suggested it would be 50 per week – which would amount to one in 17 at the current level. However, in the end even that figure was not signed off by the leaders.
Keir Starmer trumpeted the agreement as the major win from Emmanuel Macron’s State Visit to the UK last week
A migrant boat seen setting off from the French coast yesterday
Mr Farage has branded the deal with France an ‘humiliation for Brexit Britain’
Human-rights campaigners have also said they will support court challenges brought by small-boat arrivals, while the EU is assessing whether the scheme complies with the ‘spirit and the letter of the law’.
Writing in the Sunday Express, Sir Keir said: ‘We’re taking action, doing the real work of grown up, sensible, pragmatic diplomacy.
‘The result? Three trade deals and agreements to stop illegal migration in its tracks. Farage is terrified of this Government succeeding at stopping illegal migration.
‘He doesn’t want the numbers to go down because he knows that when they do, he’ll fade into irrelevance.’
Mr Farage has branded the deal with France an ‘humiliation for Brexit Britain’.
‘We have acted today as an EU member and bowed down to an arrogant French president,’ he said.
Home Office sources said that any boat migrant who has been returned to France and then made a crossing again would not be able to apply for asylum.
Their identities would also be stored on a biometric database. A source said: ‘At about £3,000 a crossing it would be a total waste of money for them to try again.’
Asked on Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme if he would congratulate ministers on the deal, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘I’m not going to be congratulating the Labour Government or the Home Secretary for presiding over record-ever numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel this year.
‘This deal will only see about 6 per cent of illegal immigrants who arrive in the UK getting returned to France, and the idea that therefore 94 per cent can stay here is going to have any effect is absolutely ludicrous.
‘Of course, if 94 per cent of illegal immigrants who cross can stay in the UK, that is no deterrent whatsoever.
‘What might have been a deterrent is a 100 per cent removal policy, which was ready under the (previous Conservative government’s) Rwanda scheme.’
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the UK had to work with European allies on illegal migration because ‘we’re not going to be able to do it on our own’.
‘We believe that we’ve got a robust workable deal with President Macron. It’s a deal that the previous government wasn’t able to negotiate,’ she told the BBC.
