Britain’s migrant return deal with France is “robust” against legal challenge, Downing Street said as the EU suggested it is assessing whether the agreement complies with “the spirit and letter of the law”.
The UK has said it expects Brussels to approve the pact, while a spokesman for the European Commission indicated it wanted to know more about the “substance and form” of the arrangement before offering support.
The one in, one out migrant return scheme set out by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron is due to begin within weeks, but still needs final legal verification and consultation with the bloc.
Asked whether the Government was concerned about the scheme potentially being held up in the courts, a Number 10 spokesman said: “We’ve done a lot of work to make sure the system is robust to legal challenges, and of course, France is a safe country and a member of the ECHR.
“We’re confident that this arrangement complies with both domestic and international law, and clearly… we’ve discussed these arrangements already with the (European) Commission.”
The Prime Minister is holding talks with his Cabinet at an “away day” at Chequers, his grace-and-favour country estate, on Friday after securing the agreement on Thursday.
Ministers expect the EU to support the arrangement, Downing Street said, amid concerns among some European governments that migrants who have travelled to Britain could end up back on their territory.
But asked whether the scheme would be endorsed, a spokesperson for the commission said on Friday: “On the specific envisaged co-operation between France and the United Kingdom, the commission will assess the concrete modalities of this co-operation.
“And of course, we continue to work with France and the UK, as well as other EU member states, to support solutions that are compatible with the spirit and the letter of EU law.”
He added: “What we have now is an announcement and a political agreement, in principle, to have a pilot agreement.
“Once we know more about the substance and the form of that, we can tell you more about it.”
By resetting our relationships across Europe, my government has made new levels of co-operation possible.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 11, 2025
For the first time, migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France — smashing the business model of people smuggling gangs.
Under the pilot scheme, for each small boat migrant sent back across the English Channel an asylum seeker will be allowed to enter the UK from France under a legal route.
No details have been given about how many people will be covered by the pilot, but French officials had indicated it could initially be limited to about 50 a week – a small fraction of the weekly average this year of 782.
Speaking to broadcasters on Friday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declined to put a number on the scheme but she insisted it would “fundamentally undermine” the people smugglers organising the crossings.
Meanwhile, crossings continued in the Channel on Friday, with HM Coastguard confirming UK Border Force and RNLI vessels had been sent to respond to “multiple incidents” involving small boats.
Some 573 migrants arrived in the UK on Thursday after crossing the Channel, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.
At least 21,000 people have already made the journey since January, putting 2025 on course to be a record year for crossings.
To those considering dangerous Channel crossings - there is now no guarantee you will remain in the UK.
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) July 11, 2025
The UK-France pilot agreement undermines the business model of the criminal gangs who profit from endangering the lives of migrants.
The returns scheme will be accompanied by a crackdown on illegal working in the UK as the Government attempts to address the “pull factors” encouraging people to attempt the crossing from France.
The Home Office said authorities would soon undertake “a major nationwide blitz targeting illegal working hotspots, focusing on the gig economy and migrants working as delivery riders”.
Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have already committed to ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months after being called in for talks with ministers.
Mr Macron has repeatedly stressed the need for the UK to avoid attracting migrants, saying “you should not underestimate the impact the situation has” in parts of northern France around Calais and Dunkirk.
He said a third of illegal migrants entering Europe’s Schengen border-free area sought to eventually reach the UK, and welcomed measures to tackle illegal work.
Prominent figures including former head of MI6 Sir Alex Younger and former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair have made the case for digital ID cards to deter Channel crossings.
Number 10 has publicly downplayed the prospect of introducing such a measure but said the Government was “always looking for a range of solutions”.
Asked on Friday why the proposal was not part of Government plans, a spokesman said: “It is not Government policy.
“Our focus is on a huge rollout of e-visas, with more than 10 million of them already issued, clearly.
“As we demonstrated over the last couple of days, we are always looking for a range of solutions to both illegal migration and illegal working. But mandatory ID cards are not part of our plans.”
Sir Keir said the “completely unprecedented” scale of the crackdown on illegal working would mean for cross-Channel migrants that “the jobs they have been promised in the UK will no longer exist”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch attacked the Government over the uncertainty of an endorsement from Brussels for the UK-French deal and said it would fail to act as a deterrent.
She said on Friday: “The mayors in France, the mayor of Calais for instance, they’ve criticised the deal.
“We don’t know whether the EU is even going to allow it.
“So right now, it is not a proper plan, and this is what always worries us: that whenever Labour negotiates, Britain loses.”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has said that he stands behind the sentiment of a speech in May in which he warned Britain risked becoming “an island of strangers” without tougher immigration controls.
He has since expressed regret for the phrasing after it prompted comparisons Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech that was blamed for inflaming racial tensions in the 1960s.
Sir Keir told The Sun he had been disavowing “that particular phrase” rather than the policy or intent behind the speech.
“Let me be clear, I didn’t disavow anything I said in the speech in terms of the policy, the determination, the intent, the understanding of the frustration and concerns that people have.
“And I stand by every word of that. I did not realise it was taken from Enoch Powell. That was my concern about it,” he said.
