By Dayo Ade Olusola | August 5, 2025 M10news
Detentions of migrants arriving by small boats in the UK will begin “in a matter of days,” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has confirmed, as the government prepares to implement a controversial new returns deal with France.
Speaking to Sky News Breakfast on Tuesday morning, Cooper said the pilot scheme, finalised last week, will allow the UK to return certain asylum seekers to France in exchange for migrants with pre-existing ties to the UK.
“The first step will be detaining people, because people will be detained until they are removed to France,” she said. “We expect those detentions to start in a matter of days.”
The bilateral agreement, described by officials as a “one in, one out” system, aims to curb the number of people arriving on UK shores via the Channel in small boats.
In return, the UK has agreed to take in some asylum seekers who have applied through legal routes and undergone security checks.
Cooper emphasised the scheme’s incremental nature: “It is a pilot program. It will start with the numbers being lower and then will build up.”
The deal marks the first time France has formally agreed to accept returns of migrants who cross into the UK, a sticking point that has plagued bilateral relations for years. Officials in London have hailed the arrangement as a “breakthrough” in deterring unlawful entry and disrupting people-smuggling networks.
“What’s ground-breaking here,” Cooper said, “is that people can be returned to France if they arrive on these dangerous and illegal small boats. In return, we will take people who have applied legally through a legal process, been through security checks.”
The Home Office has yet to confirm how many people will be removed under the pilot or how quickly France will begin accepting them.
The scheme follows years of failed attempts by successive UK governments to strike a migrant returns deal with EU member states after Brexit. It comes amid rising public pressure to reduce Channel crossings, which have exceeded 30,000 this year despite increased enforcement and surveillance.
Critics have raised legal and logistical concerns about the pilot, particularly around human rights implications and France’s capacity to accommodate returnees.
More details are expected to be revealed during a ministerial briefing later this week.
