There is “no single solution” to preventing small boats crossing the English Channel, a senior cabinet minister has said as he defended Britain’s migration deal with France.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce a “one in one out” agreement on Thursday that would reportedly see 50 migrants a week sent back to France and exchanged for an asylum seeker who has a link to the UK.
But with an average of 800 people crossing the Channel each week, it would see the equivalent of just one in 17 migrants returned.
Defence Secretary John Healey told the BBC on Thursday: “There is no single solution to this, there is certainly no quick fix.
“The Borders Bill with the new powers that we are putting through Parliament will allow us counter terrorism powers to deal with the smuggling gangs.
“That will be more action to come. The action with the French that needs to be stepped up will be stepped up as a result that we now have a good working relationship [and] an acceptance with the French, and increasingly other European nations, that Britain can’t tackle these small boats alone and we have a shared challenge of illegal migration across Europe.”
French newspaper Le Monde reported that some 50 migrants a week would initially be returned to France under the terms of the proposed deal, which it described as largely symbolic.
The deal would only result in the return of a fraction of the more than 21,000 people who have made the crossing so far in 2025, a record for this point in a year.
But it would also represent a concession by the French that such returns are possible, after years of MPs on the right of British politics insisting France is a “safe” country where migrants can be sent back to.
The scheme could be scaled up after an initial pilot had shown “proof of concept”, ministers hope.
In return, Mr Macron is said to be pushing for the UK to do more to address “pull factors” which are attracting people to make the dangerous crossing to the English coast.
However, shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the scheme would not deter small boats.
“This deal will mean that 94% of illegal migrants crossing the Channel will get to stay,” he told the Times.
“That is pathetic and will not deter anyone. By contrast, the Rwanda deterrent would have seen 100% of illegal migrants removed and that would have worked to deter people crossing the Channel. Keir Starmer’s failure continues.”
When Mr Macron and Sir Keir met in Downing Street on Wednesday, the small boats crisis appeared to be the mainstay of their conversations.
The pair agreed the crossings are a “shared priority that requires shared solutions”, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
They added: “The Prime Minister spoke of his Government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.
“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”
Both Mr Macron and Sir Keir aim for “concrete progress” on the matter at Thursday’s summit, No 10 said, as well as in other areas like support for Ukraine.
Following the French-UK summit, the two leaders will host a call with coalition of the willing partners, the proposed peacekeeping mission to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine in future.
In a sign of close alignment on defence, Britain and France have announced they will buy new supplies of Storm Shadow missiles, which both have loaned to Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia.
The two nations will also work closely to develop a successor to the long-range missile, the Ministry of Defence said.
