Keir Starmer deal to return small boats migrants 'is historic breakthrough'

Labour's border security minister has said a groundbreaking migration returns deal with France will help "replace chaos with control".

Dame Angela Eagle said the agreement is a "historic step forward". For the first time since Brexit, Britain will be able to send small boat arrivals back to France.

In exchange, people with a legitimate claim to live in Britain will be sent in their place on a one-in-one out basis. Dame Angela said years of Tory failure had led to a "sprawling smuggling industry with tentacles that stretch across borders and continents".

She said the agreement, announced by Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, is the kind of bold move needed to deter crossings. It is reported that the pilot scheme, expected to be up and running within weeks, will see around 50 people returned a week, with a view to increasing this.

READ MORE: DAME ANGELA EAGLE: Historic migrant return deal shows we're replacing chaos with control

Dame Angela told The Mirror those who come the other way will be fully documented and subject to security and biometric checks. The UK has been seeking a returns deal with France for years, and the Government hailed Thursday's announcement as a huge breakthrough.

Dame Angela said: "Replacing chaos with control is my priority. We cannot solve the small boats crisis by shouting at France like the Tories did for years."

And she continued: "This is a historic step-forward. No government has got the level of co-operation needed to take forward new and bold measures like this."

The Home Office minister said the scheme will "fundamentally undermine the central promise at the heart of the gangs’ business model" by showing those to cross the Channel that they should not expect to stay. The Government expects a pilot scheme to be up and running within weeks.

Dame Angela said it is an important step alongside other measures being taken to target people smugglers. These include going after the money trail, identifying individuals and working with the French government, which is set to start intercepting boats in shallow waters.

Ministers have ramped up returns, with almost 30,000 failed asylum seekers, criminals and immigration offenders removed since last July. And illegal working visits and arrests have risen by over 50% in the past 12 months.

It comes after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed small boat arrivals will be locked up on arrival as part of the new returns deal. Ms Cooper said migrants will be prevented from fleeing so they can be sent back across the Channel.

She said the UK wants to extend the agreement - the first returns agreement the UK has struck with France since Brexit - "as far as we're able". Ms Cooper said: "We will be detaining people certainly as the pilot is introduced and as the programme becomes operationalised."

She refused to be drawn on numbers, saying: "We will want to be able to extend this as far as we're able to where we will continue to build." And the Home Secretary stated: "The numbers are not fixed, even for this pilot phase that we are starting now.

"So this will be a programme that we roll out step-by-step, and we will provide updates as we go. But we are going to do this in a steady way."

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