The UK will begin detaining people who arrive on small boats and returning some to France “within days” after the EU gave the green light to a deal agreed with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
The treaty between France and the UK will allow the Home Office to return some asylum seekers back across the Channel for the first time in exchange for accepting others directly from France via a safe route.
Those who have crossed the Channel to the UK using small boats will become inadmissible for safe routes, according to the terms of the treaty. About 50 people a week are expected to be returned during the pilot of the so-called “one in, one out” scheme.
The Home Office said the pilot was “operationally ready” and that detentions could start within days. The summer months, when the weather tends to be better, are usually the high point for crossings, with 898 arrivals on 30 July alone.
Since the start of the year, about 25,000 people have sought asylum by arriving on small boats across the Channel. The Conservatives have panned the scheme, saying the numbers arriving would mean it was the equivalent of “17 in, one out”.
Nationalities at the greatest risk will be prioritised on the newly opened safe route and will be subject to full documentation and security and eligibility checks.
The pilot scheme runs until June 2026, after which both the UK and France have said they will assess its future.
The final text of the deal was signed by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and her French counterpart, Bruno Retailleau, last week, and approved by the European Commission, which was thought to be a potential obstacle.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the agreement was “the product of months of grownup 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.
“The days of gimmicks and broken promises are over – we will restore order to our borders with the seriousness and competence the British people deserve.”
Cooper said the government would robustly defend any legal challenge, saying it had learned from the failed Rwanda deportation scheme under the Conservatives.
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“This is an important step towards undermining the business model of the organised crime gangs that are behind these crossings – undermining their claims that those who travel to the UK illegally can’t be returned to France,” she said.
“It is also right to make clear that – while the UK will always be ready to play its part alongside other countries in helping those fleeing persecution and conflict – this must be done in a controlled and managed legal way, not through dangerous, illegal and uncontrolled routes.”
The Home Office said preparations for the scheme had begun, including clearing space in immigration removal centres, and a new operational strategy for Border Force officials to allow them to identify which potential asylum seekers would make their claims inadmissible by travelling via small boat.
Anyone who arrives by small boat and is returned to France will not be eligible for the legal route to the UK, while anyone who tries to re-enter the UK having already been returned to France once will be returned again “as a matter of priority”.
The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said the scheme would have “no difference whatsoever” and blamed the rise in Channel crossings on Labour’s cancellation of the Rwanda scheme.
