The UK Prime Minister has struck a deal with French President Macron

17:54, 10 Jul 2025Updated 17:55, 10 Jul 2025

French Police enter the water to try and stop migrants boarding small boats(Image: Getty Images)

Keir Starmer has announced a ‘one-in, one-out’ deal to send migrants back to France if they try to arrive on small boats. The deal will see one illegal migrant sent back in exchange for an asylum seeker who has not tried to cross the Channel illegally.

The announcement was made by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in London on Thursday morning. Although the initial scheme will only involve 50 individuals per week, UK officials believe it represents a significant step forward as it establishes a precedent for returning migrants who arrive in Britain illegally back to France.

There was, however, immediate criticism that the scale of the scheme was too small to tackle the vast issue of people crossing the Channel illegally on small boats.

Under the terms of the agreement, Britain will repatriate some of those who cross the Channel in small boats, while accepting an equivalent number of migrants deemed to have valid asylum claims in the UK. Starmer had advocated for this deal in an effort to deter people from undertaking the perilous crossing.

“We share the same will to tackle networks of illegal immigration through great co-ordination with other European countries,′′ Macron said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, centre left, and French President Emmanuel Macron, centre right, (Image: 2025 Getty Images)

The issue of small boat crossings has become politically charged, exacerbated by images of human traffickers cramming migrants into overcrowded, unsafe inflatable boats on the French coast.

So far this year, over 21,000 individuals have reached the UK via small boats, marking a 56% increase compared to the same period last year.

Thursday’s announcement is part of wider efforts to foster closer cooperation with France and other countries along the migration routes from Africa and the Middle East.

British officials have been advocating for a more assertive intervention from French police to halt boats once they’ve departed the shore, and have welcomed recent instances of officers puncturing rubber dinghies with knives.

Earlier this week, Macron stated that he and Starmer would strive for “tangible results” on an issue that’s “a burden for our two countries.”

As early as 2001, the two nations were exploring methods to curb the influx of migrants, although at that time the focus was on individuals hiding in trains and lorries entering Britain via the Channel Tunnel.

Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, talk during a joint military visit to the MARCOM centre(Image: 2025 Getty Images)

In the ensuing years, French authorities dismantled camps near Calais where thousands of migrants congregated before attempting to reach Britain.

Enhanced security significantly decreased the number of vehicle stowaways, but around 2018, human traffickers began offering migrants a new sea route.

“You see that pattern again and again, where smuggling gangs and migrants try to find new ways to cross from France to the U.K.,” said Mihnea Cuibus, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory.

“The authorities crack down on that, and then gradually you see migrants and gangs try to adapt to that. And it becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse.”

Collaboration on curbing cross-channel migration waned following Britain’s tumultuous departure from the European Union in 2020. However, in recent years, the UK has forged several accords with France, including commitments for the UK to fund increased police and drone monitoring of French coastlines.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, look at screens during a joint military visit to the MARCOM centr(Image: 2025 Getty Images)

In 2022, the former Conservative government proposed a divisive policy to transport asylum-seekers arriving by boat to Rwanda. The scheme, denounced as impractical and inhumane by detractors, was abandoned by Starmer soon after he assumed premiership in July 2024.

Cuibus remarked that irregular migration via the Channel is likely to remain a challenge but believes the strategies being deliberated between the UK and France could be effective “if they’re implemented in the right way.

“But that’s a big if,” he added.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron(Image: Unknown)

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