A migrant who was deported to France under the flagship “one in, one out” deal has returned to the UK in a small boat, marking a humiliating blow for Sir Keir Starmer and his pledge to take back control of Britain’s borders.
It comes on the same day that the number of migrant arrivals via the English Channel so far this year passed the total for the whole of 2024, with more than two months of the year still to go.
The man who returned to the UK told The Guardian he is a victim of modern slavery at the hands of smugglers in northern France.
Currently being held at an immigration detention centre, the Home Office is looking to expedite his removal.
“If I had felt that France was safe for me, I would never have returned to the UK,” he told the newspaper.
"When we were returned to France we were taken to a shelter in Paris. I didn't dare to go out because I was afraid for my life. The smugglers are very dangerous. They always carry weapons and knives. I fell into the trap of a human trafficking network in the forests of France before I crossed to the UK from France the first time.
"They took me like a worthless object, forced me to work, abused me, and threatened me with a gun and told me I would be killed if I made the slightest protest.
"When I reached UK the first time and Home Office asked what had happened to me I was crying and couldn't speak about this because of shame."
Just 42 people have been returned to France so far under the agreement, announced with great fanfare by the PM and French president Emmanuel Macron in July and aimed at creating a disincentive for the Channel crossing. Under its terms, for each small boat migrant sent back across the Channel an asylum seeker will be allowed to enter the UK from France under a legal route.
At the time, Sir Keir hailed it as a “breakthrough moment” which would “turn the tables” on the people smugglers – but a Downing Street spokesperson on Wednesday said the policy was not a “silver bullet” to tackle the problem.
But in a blow to the prime minister's efforts to curb crossings, Home Office figures showed the number of migrants to have made the journey so far this year stood at 36,734 up to and including Tuesday.
This was just 82 short of the 36,816 migrants who arrived during the whole of last year, and sources confirmed that arrivals on Wednesday meant that milestone has now been surpassed.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also accused the government of being in “total chaos” and “too weak to take the tough decisions to secure our borders”.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson said Labour had to “back up their big promises with actions”.
But home secretary Shabana Mahmood hit back, saying the last Tory government had left “our borders in crisis, and we are still living with the consequences. These figures are shameful – the British people deserve better”.
She said the Labour government had detained and removed more than 35,000 people illegally in the UK, but added: “It is clear we must go further and faster – removing more of those here illegally, and stopping migrants from making small boat crossings in the first place.
“And I have been clear: I will do whatever it takes to restore order to our border.”
Asked about the returning migrant, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We will not accept any abuse of our borders, and we will do everything in our power to remove those without the legal right to be here.
“Individuals who are returned under the pilot (with France) and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will be removed.”
Maddie Harris, the founder and director of Humans For Rights Network, said: “We regularly hear from people who have spent time in France, passing through Dunkirk and Calais to get to the UK, that they have witnessed or experienced violence and exploitation perpetrated by smugglers and traffickers. This includes people being forced or coerced into steering a boat, the use of physical violence, servitude, beatings, stabbings and sexual violence.
“The men we have spoken to post their removal to France under the ‘one in, one out’ scheme have spoken of their horror to find themselves back in a country where they do not feel safe.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of The Refugee Council, said: “It is the lack of legal pathways that drives people into the hands of smugglers and onto flimsy boats that put their lives at risk. To prevent dangerous crossings, the UK must create more safe and legal routes. That means reopening family reunion visas to allow refugees to reunite with their partner or children in Britain, as well as expanding schemes that give people a secure way to reach the UK.”
The double blow to one of Sir Keir’s key pledges came on the same day he met with leaders of countries in the western Balkans, as the UK seeks to slash the number of migrants arriving illegally from the region.
Some 22,000 people were smuggled by gangs last year along routes through the area.
Speaking to The Independent from a migrant processing centre in Algeria, junior foreign minister Hamish Falconer warned that “simple slogans” will not fix the migrant crisis.
He said: “We’ve got to recognise just how complex these migration flows are, how much they are underpinned by illicit finance and criminal gangs, and we’ve got to be serious.”
After his meeting, Sir Keir announced that gang members and financiers enabling the people-smuggling trade, including a Kosovan passport forgery ring, have been banned from travelling to the UK and frozen out of the UK’s financial system.
