Key facts
- The UK government has ended its "one in, one out" deal with France after 423 days.
- The deal aimed to deter asylum seekers by returning those arriving by small boat to France in exchange for legal UK arrivals.
- Only 4% of the 40,000 small boat arrivals during the deal's active period were returned to France.
- The Home Office will double the number of riot police along the French coast.
- MI5 warned that extremists with anti-immigration views are increasingly considering terrorist attacks.
The UK government has quietly ended its "one in, one out" deal with France, which was intended to reduce small boat crossings by asylum seekers. The partnership, active for just over a year, is described as having had a negligible impact and is now being replaced by a doubling of riot police along the French coast.
Launched in July last year, the scheme allowed for asylum seekers arriving by small boat to be forcibly returned to France in exchange for another individual being brought to the UK legally. However, its scale was limited, with only about 4% of the 40,000 individuals who arrived in small boats during its operation being returned. A report by the thinktank British Future, which supported the policy, acknowledged that it would need to be expanded twenty-fold to be effective.
Sources suggest that political considerations in France, particularly with upcoming presidential elections, may have contributed to the deal's demise, as France may not want to be perceived as accepting more individuals from the UK. The policy was also criticized for its "arbitrary cruelty," with reports of children being misidentified as adults and asylum seekers facing violence upon return to France.
Increased security measures along the French border, while potentially contributing to a decrease in small boat crossings this year, have also reportedly encouraged more dangerous journeys. Smugglers are attempting to transport more people in single crossings using larger "mega-dinghies," and some are taking longer routes from Normandy and Belgium instead of Calais. This has led to increased visibility of the issue and has been described as contributing to the "sense of spectacle."
Experts suggest that the government's approach frames migration as a security issue rather than addressing the root causes of displacement due to global instability. Despite increased security and deportation threats, people will continue to seek asylum as long as wars and persecution persist.