More than 1,000 small boat migrants arrive in UK despite French deal

More than a thousand people crossed the English Channel in small boats on Friday as the Government sent a third person back to France.

The number of people making the crossing underlined the scale of the challenge facing Sir Keir Starmer’s government as it battles to get a grip on the crisis.

The latest Home Office figures showed 1,072 made the journey in 13 boats.

It takes the number of people who have made the crossing so far in 2025 to 32,103 – a record for this point in a year.

Ministers hope the “one in, one out” deal with France will act as a deterrent, showing migrants they face being sent back if they travel across the Channel.

But the scale of Friday’s crossings suggested the policy was so far having little effect on those gathered on the beaches of northern France.

The third person sent back was an Iranian man who was returned to France on Friday.

This followed the removal of an Eritrean man earlier on Friday after he lost a High Court bid to halt his removal, and the deportation of an Indian national on Thursday.

The first flights carrying asylum seekers from France to the UK under the reciprocal aspect of the deal are expected to take place next week.

Although they would not comment on numbers, a Home Office source said they were expected to be “at or close to parity”, given the “one in, one out” nature of the deal.

Ministers have praised the returns, with Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy saying they provided an “immediate deterrent” to people seeking to cross the Channel.

The Government intends to increase the number of people being sent back under the pilot deal over the coming months.

The deal with France means people who arrive in the UK by small boat can be detained and returned across the Channel, in exchange for an equivalent number of people who applied through a safe and legal route.

But shadow home secretary Chris Philp attacked the deal as providing “no deterrent effect whatsoever”, describing the numbers returned as “pathetic” and saying “boasting about it is absurd”.

Home Office sources pointed to the fact these were forcible returns, and drew comparisons with the previous government’s deal with Rwanda – scrapped by Labour – that saw four volunteers go to the east African nation over two years.