Migrants lose late-night High Court bids to block removal to France

Three men have lost High Court bids to temporarily block their removal to France under the Government’s “one in, one out” deal, documents show.

The men, who have been anonymised as TAN, LOU and LYD, sought a court order blocking their removal at separate hearings on Wednesday.

Court orders published on Thursday show that Mr Justice Johnson refused all three bids, saying there was a “strong public interest” in allowing the Home Office to continue with the scheme agreed in the summer.

In the case of TAN, which was heard remotely between 7.45pm and 9.45pm on Wednesday, Mr Justice Johnson said a medical report referred to the man having a “high risk of suicide in France or Iran”.

But he continued: “It has not been shown that the French authorities would be unable to provide the claimant with any necessary medical care, including in respect of his mental health and the prevention of suicide, or that he would be at real risk of immediate harm if he is returned to France.

“He would be able to continue to pursue his claim from France.”

In all three cases, the judge said there was no evidence that the men would be at “real risk of immediate harm”.

He added: “Given that there is no evidence of an immediate risk to the claimant on return to France, allowing the removal to take its course, but with the potential for him to return if there is shown to be a longer term risk, would provide a sufficient safeguard (to) the claimant.”

In the case of LOU, heard between 11.25pm and midnight, the judge again concluded there was no “real risk of immediate harm” if the man was returned to France.

The judge said: “He spent some considerable time in France on his way to the United Kingdom, and has not demonstrated that he was subject to inhuman or degrading treatment.

“There is no evidence that if he were returned to France tomorrow, he would be immediately subject to such treatment.”

The decisions were revealed as Sir Keir Starmer insisted on Thursday that his approach to tackling small boats crossing the Channel remained on course, despite one man who was removed under the scheme then re-entering the UK.

The man was returned to France in September but came back across the Channel in a small boat a month later.

The Prime Minister said the man, who now claims to be a victim of modern slavery, would be “fast-tracked back out of the country”.

The number of people crossing the Channel in small boats this year so far has reached 36,954, more than the 36,818 recorded in the whole of 2024.

Analysis of the figures by the PA news agency showed crossings were 30% higher than at this point in 2024 and 41% higher than in 2023, but 2% lower than at this stage in the record year of 2022.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Labour’s policy on small boats had been “shown to be farcical, with the migrants simply getting back on boats and coming here”.