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The British and French governments are in talks about a migrant returns agreement that would involve one person being deported from the UK in exchange for France sending another individual the other way, amid hopes the arrangement could be expanded into a broader European initiative.
British and French officials are in early discussions about a pilot scheme under which a small number of irregular migrants who come across the English Channel to the UK would be sent back to France.
British officials said the UK would look to accept from France a limited number of migrants who have a right to be in Britain, notably those with a legitimate case for family reunification.
France is willing to test such a scheme, despite its long-standing preference for an EU-wide arrangement, because it believes a returns agreement would deter human traffickers and migrants.
Before coming to power, Sir Keir Starmer said he would look to reach a returns agreement with the EU but no such deal has yet materialised.
Starmer is keen to convince voters he has a plan to tackle irregular migration to Britain and “smash the gangs” involved in transporting asylum seekers across the Channel in small boats, as he seeks to fend off the electoral threat posed by the populist Reform UK party.
“We are in early discussions about a scheme that would see a small number of migrants returned to France in exchange for us accepting others, in line with what we have discussed . . . about prioritising family reunion,” said one British official.
A UK Home Office spokesperson said: “We are intensifying our collaboration with France and other European countries who face the same challenges by exploring fresh and innovative measures to dismantle the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs.”
France’s interior ministry confirmed the country was in negotiations with the UK about an agreement to take back some irregular migrants who had crossed the Channel.
“France’s interest is to discourage migrants (and smuggling networks) from attempting to reach the UK from France,” it said.
The ministry added the ambition was for the project to be extended into a broader EU-wide scheme.
“It’s a pilot scheme that anticipates a future European agreement, which France strongly supports,” it said.
“It is based on a one-for-one principle: for each legal admission under family reunification, there would be a corresponding readmission of undocumented migrants who managed to cross [the Channel].”
Small boat crossings across the Channel are at record levels, with almost 8,200 people having made the journey to the UK since the start of the year, up 30 per cent compared to the same period in 2024.
The number of small boat arrivals rose 25 per cent in 2024, to more than 37,000.
EU officials cautioned that extending the potential UK-French pilot scheme to the whole bloc would be likely to face significant roadblocks, since many countries do not want to take back migrants that Britain has rejected, especially as anti-immigration sentiment rises among some voters.
One EU diplomat said the Franco-British discussions were “preliminary” and it was “way too early to speculate about potential involvement of other [EU] member states”.
Before Brexit, the UK was a party to the EU’s Dublin regulation, under which people should be processed for asylum in the country at which they first entered the bloc.
However, many EU nations of first entry for migrants, such as Italy, do not apply the Dublin rules.
The UK and France already have an extensive border control partnership called the Touquet agreement, under which the UK has agreed to pay about €540mn to France between 2023 and 2026 in exchange for more intense police monitoring of the Channel.
It has allowed France to hire more officers, patrol more frequently, and intensify surveillance, including with drones.
Advocacy groups criticise the harder approach as endangering people seeking to cross the Channel.
France and the UK have also begun to work more closely together, with British security staff taking on observer roles at French command centres around Calais.
Despite the closer co-operation, France has long refused certain British requests, such as patrolling jointly or processing asylum requests in France on behalf of the UK.
