Asylum seekers wanting to cross the English Channel in small boats say Labour’s new ‘one in, one out’ deterrent is not putting them off making the perilous journey. The “landmark” pilot scheme with France sees migrants in Britain returned across the Channel in exchange for London granting asylum to someone who has a legitimate family connection in the UK.
Some 26 migrants have been returned to France from the UK since the scheme started in August, with 18 coming the other way. Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have warned the returns deal does not go far enough. In northern France, asylum seekers hoping to reach the UK appear to be unconcerned.
In a six-word verdict on Labour’s “groundbreaking” deterrence scheme, Mali Ali, from Somalia, told The Sun: “Everyone will still try to come.”
The 22-year-old spoke to the newspaper from the New Jungle camp close to the town of Loon-Plage.
Ali Farah, 24, who is also from Somalia, has a sister in the UK and said the deterrence “hasn’t put anyone off”.
Safa Ali, a 35-year-old Iraqi former soldier, added “people will take their chance.”
According to The Sun, signs detailing the ‘one in, one out’ returns deal have been put up at the camp.
Reportedly issued by charity Refugee Legal Support, the advice includes: “Important! Only a very small number of people can be detained to be transferred under this scheme.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood last week said flights returning asylum seekers to France were “ramping up”.
She said: “We are sending out a clear message: if you come here illegally, you face being detained and removed, so think twice before making that journey.”
On Thursday, Britain’s border security commander Martin Hewitt admitted only 12 members of staff from the Home Office are working on the returns deal.
Almost 11,000 migrants have arrived since the scheme was launched and Mr Hewitt said he finds the numbers “frustrating and really challenging”.
But on a positive note, he told MPs sitting on the Commons home affairs select committee: “I am convinced that the plan, the sort of cross-spectrum plan that we have in place, is a plan that will deliver, but we need to keep pushing and delivering that plan.”
