A man sent back to France under Keir Starmer's returns deal
has returned to the UK on a boat, raising questions about the government's
immigration policy.
The number of small boat migrants who have entered the UK this year has surpassed the level for the entire previous year, dealing the prime minister a double blow.
The accord, which was widely publicized by French president and prime minister Emmanuel Macron, has only resulted in the return of forty-two individuals thus far. According to its rules, an asylum seeker will be permitted to legally enter the UK from France for every small boat migrant sent back across the Channel.
A Downing Street spokesperson stated on Wednesday that the policy was not a "silver bullet" to address the issue, despite Sir Keir's claim at the time that it was a "breakthrough moment" that would "turn the tables" on people smugglers.
But home secretary Shabana Mahmood hit out accusing the last Tory government of leaving “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 said:
“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.”
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.
Currently, the number of small boat migrant arrivals in the UK has surpassed the 36,816 total arrivals in 2024.
Small boat crossings accounted for approximately 80% of unauthorized arrivals and 4% of total immigration to the UK last year.
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 and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will removed.”
Speaking to The Independent from a migrant processing centre in Algeria, 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.
I’m serious, the home secretary is serious, and the foreign secretary is serious about not just doing everything we can to stop the boats crossing, but going even further back up to the chain as well, to places even beyond Algeria, to Guinea and elsewhere, to make sure that this business model, which has been threatening the borders of so many countries, the borders here in North Africa.”
Sir Keir declared following his meeting that gang members and financiers who support the people-smuggling industry, including a Kosovan passport fraud ring, had been barred from entering the UK and have been cut off from the country's financial market.
How is the government responding to this specific breach?
UK border enforcement agencies and law enforcement are
probing how the individual managed to re-enter immorally, with increased
patrolling and surveillance in Channel crossing hotspots.
The government is reviewing cooperation with France to strain controls on displacements, insure returning settlers aren't suitable to reattempt crossings, and information sharing to close loopholes. Backing has been increased for National Crime Agency task forces targeting people smuggling gangs, fastening on smuggling networks and executing facilitators.
Ministers, including the Home Secretary, reaffirm the government’s commitment to “ smash the gangs ” and advise of harsh penalties for reprise offenders.