The first migrants have been detained under the new returns deal with France. It comes after Sir Keir Starmer’s “one in, one out” agreement came into force yesterday.
Under the pilot scheme, adults arriving on a small boat can be detained and sent back to France for the first time. This is in exchange for an approved asylum seeker in France to be brought to the UK under a safe route.
The deal comes as Labour is attempting to crack down on smuggling gangs amid a record number of Channel crossings.
But French authorities continued to run a “taxi service” for dinghies crossing the busy shopping lane yesterday.
The Daily Express joined Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp on the channel and witnessed two boats carrying dozens of people being shadowed within 30 minutes of each other.
Mr Philp said: “The people-smuggling conveyor belt is now a round trip, paid for by British taxpayers.
“We were in the middle of the Channel, just on the UK side of the border, witnessing the French handing over two boatloads of illegal migrants, Border Force picking them out, providing a taxi service back to the UK.
“This is the first day of the Labour Government’s new plan and here is evidence it is not working at all. I mean, even seeing the French asking for their lifejackets back so they can facilitate even more illegal immigration later on.
“With a weak Government in the UK, the French are essentially assisting and facilitating illegal migration so it’s no wonder we’ve got the worst ever numbers.”
Latest Home Office figures show 25,436 people have arrived by small boat so far this year – a record for this point in the year since data began in 2018.
This is up 48% on the same point last year (17,170), and is 70% higher than in 2023 (14,994).