The first group removals of small boat migrants under the UK’s controversial “one-in, one-out” deal with France have taken place, with 26 people returned in total, the Home Office has announced.
Two group flights saw 19 individuals sent back to France over the past two weeks, with migrants aboard the second flight touching down in France on Wednesday. The Home Office confirmed that an additional seven individuals had been successfully returned in the previous month.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood hailed the removals as a watershed moment in Britain’s battle against people-smuggling gangs, declaring the flights marked “a turning point” in efforts to restore order to the immigration system.
“These group removals send an uncompromising message: if you enter the UK illegally, you face being detained and removed. It is not worth the risk,” Mahmood said following the second group flight.
The Home Secretary drew a stark contrast between Labour’s approach and the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda scheme, which she described as a costly failure.
“The failed Rwanda scheme took years and cost hundreds of millions sending just four volunteers. We’ve returned 26 people in a matter of weeks through real action. But this is just the beginning,” she stated.
Mahmood vowed that the government would “do whatever it takes to dismantle the smugglers’ business model, get people out of expensive hotels, and end the chaos at the border”.
Further flights to France under the pilot scheme are scheduled to take place over the coming days and weeks as the government attempts to demonstrate its commitment to tackling illegal Channel crossings.
However, the modest number of returns stands in sharp contrast to the scale of arrivals since the landmark treaty came into force. GB News can reveal that more than 9,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since the deal was enforced on 3 August.
Over 3,500 migrants made the perilous 21-mile journey in August, with an additional 5,000 reaching British shores in September. This week alone saw 1,000 migrants arrive in Dover, pushing the total figure for 2025 past 35,000.
The statistics represent a significant challenge for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government, which has faced mounting pressure to demonstrate its border control credentials as support for the anti-immigration Reform UK party has surged in opinion polls.
Migrant crossings in the first 10 months of 2025 have already exceeded the 12-month totals for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023. The figure is expected to surpass last year’s 36,816 in the coming weeks, with 2025 edging closer to the record-breaking 45,755 crossings recorded in 2022.
Sir Keir Starmer’s 16-month total now stands at 58,500, already 8,000 higher than the figure accumulated across the almost 22 months that Rishi Sunak spent in power. The Prime Minister’s total is also now around 7,300 behind Boris Johnson’s 39-month overall figure of 65,815.
The total number of migrants who have crossed the Channel since records began now stands at nearly 190,000.
The “one-in, one-out” deal, announced by Prime Minister Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in July, allows the UK to detain and return small boat arrivals to France in exchange for accepting an equal number of asylum seekers who apply through a new legal route from France.
Under the pilot scheme, priority is given to individuals with family connections to the UK who have not attempted the dangerous Channel crossing. Britain covers the transportation costs for both migrants sent to France and those accepted in return, whilst also paying France almost £500 million over three years to fund extra officers on the French coast.
The scheme has faced significant legal challenges since its inception. Several scheduled deportation flights in September departed without any migrants on board after last-minute legal interventions, prompting the Home Secretary to condemn what she described as “vexatious” claims that “make a mockery of our laws”.
An Eritrean man successfully won a High Court ruling placing a temporary block on his deportation to France after his lawyers argued he faced a real risk of destitution and was a potential victim of modern slavery. The Home Office was subsequently refused permission to appeal the decision.
Mahmood has previously stated she wants deportation numbers to increase to the point where they act as a genuine deterrent to Channel crossings.
“You start with a small first step and then you ramp up, which is exactly what we’re going to be doing,” she said last month. “I want us to get to a point where the numbers that are being removed are acting as a deterrent and stop people getting on the boats in the first place.”
The Home Office has sought to highlight broader enforcement successes, pointing out that removals and deportations stood at 35,000 in Labour’s first year in power, representing a 13 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
However, just 9,115 were recorded as enforced returns, meaning an overwhelming majority were voluntary returns. The National Crime Agency has also carried out over 350 disruptions against people-smuggling networks, marking a 40 per cent increase on the previous year.
The scheme has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. The Conservative opposition has branded the deal “unworkable” and vulnerable to abuse, whilst some Labour MPs and refugee charities have condemned it as cruel, drawing unfavourable comparisons to the scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme.
Rights groups have raised particular concerns about the detention of torture and trafficking survivors, with Medical Justice claiming many of those already detained under the scheme are vulnerable individuals who should be receiving support rather than facing removal.
The deal has also faced scrutiny over its limited scope. France is not required to accept unaccompanied minors or individuals who pose a security threat, and the UK must make a request to return an individual within 14 days of their arrival.
As of 2 October, the Home Office has detected 185,539 migrants who have crossed the English Channel in small boats since 2018, when systematic recording of crossings began. The government has not set specific targets for the number of returns under the France deal, with officials describing the initial phase as a pilot scheme that will be evaluated before any expansion.
The pressure on the government to demonstrate results has intensified amid growing public concern over immigration. A rally organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson in central London in September attracted an estimated 150,000 people, whilst protests and disorder linked to the migrant crisis and asylum hotels placed police forces under what the National Police Chiefs’ Council described as “chronic pressure” during summer 2025.
The Home Secretary has acknowledged concerns about the rise of far-right sentiment in Britain, telling ITV News she was “worried about the rise of the far right” and concerned about “some of the rhetoric” surrounding immigration debates.
With further group removal flights scheduled in the coming weeks, the government faces a critical test of whether its approach can scale up sufficiently to serve as a meaningful deterrent whilst navigating the legal and practical challenges that have hampered initial implementation.
The modest numbers returned to date suggest the scheme remains in its early stages, with ministers acknowledging significant work lies ahead to achieve the government’s stated ambition of dismantling people-smuggling networks and ending the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
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