The British and French governments are reportedly extending a ‘one in, one out’ asylum processing deal which has been branded “hostile border theatre” by its critics.
Under the deal, which will now be extended until 1 October 2026 according to sources, the UK returns people who have arrived on small boats back to France in exchange for accepting the same number of asylum seekers from France through formal, legal pathways.
Since the announcement of the initial deal – hailed as “groundbreaking” by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron – on 10 July last year, nearly 28,000 people have arrived by boat to the UK, according to Home Office statistics.
In that time, just over 600 people have been returned to France, with 581 people being accepted into the UK as part of the scheme.
The numbers crossing the Channel have declined by around a third compared to the equivalent period last year. However, this reduction is believed to at least partly be due to weather, with windy conditions making crossings too difficult and dangerous.
Critics argue that the scheme is overly cruel and ineffective.
‘Kicked, slapped and beaten – like our lives meant nothing’
An asylum seeker from the Middle East told The i Paper of their fears at being returned to France: “I was beaten by a smuggler; they kicked me, they slapped me. They made me carry a boat by force when I was sick. I was in northern France for one and half months and would be threatened from morning to night [by smugglers]. It was like people’s lives meant nothing.”
Of the limbo of detention under the scheme, they added: “It is really difficult to be in this suffocating, unknown situation. By 4 or 5pm each day my head becomes too heavy. But still I maintain contact with other people here and I don’t let this stress overcome me.”
But one 17-year-old boy, held in detention under the scheme, said “This is an adult and ugly place. I cannot stay here, I need assistance, I have experienced so many difficulties and I need help.”
Sonia Lenegan, an immigration solicitor, told The i Paper: “The extension of this scheme is harmful and wrong.
“There is no evidence that the scheme has acted as a deterrent, as other factors are likely to have contributed to this year’s lower numbers. This is a scheme which functions on the violence of forcibly detaining and removing people, who are very likely to be refugees, from the UK.”
A French Warship escorts an inflatable ‘small boat’ carrying migrants across the channel after leaving northern France in late April 2026 (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty)Child detentions a flashpoint in ‘hostile’ scheme
Much of the criticism of the scheme from NGOs has focused on detention conditions and specifically the detention of children. In February, groups on either side of the Channel signed a joint statement denouncing the scheme.
Gee Manoharan, co-director of policy and influencing at the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees, said: “This policy is functioning as hostile border theatre. Behind every removal statistic is a human being living through fear, confusion and uncertainty.”
Manoharan added: “After nearly a year of political fanfare, only around 600 people have reportedly been returned to France under the arrangement, while tens of thousands have continued crossing the Channel. On some days, more people have arrived in a single afternoon than are removed under the scheme in weeks.
“The government keeps presenting cruelty as competence,” he added.
Charlotte Buckley, executive director of the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) called for “the end of the UK-France deal as a matter of urgency”, pointing to a “shocking increase in the number of highly vulnerable people in detention”.
The extension of the deal appears to be matched by increased communication about the new policies in France.
People wait to board a small boat off the coast of Gravelines, France, in April 2026 (Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA)When The i Paper spoke to Bertrand Ringot, the mayor of Gravelines – a town in northern France from which crossings are attempted – he echoed complaints from the collective of mayors in the region that officials had not been kept in the loop about how the ‘one in, one out’ scheme would function.
Stephane Pinto, the mayor of Ambleteuse, said: “We first learnt about the deal from the press.”
But he said that in June there will be a meeting with mayors after the municipal elections, and the subject of immigration will be put back on the table. “We will certainly have more appropriate responses about the new measures that are being put in place,” Pinto added.
He also argued that it is too soon to assess whether the scheme has worked, telling The i Paper: “Right now, we don’t have long-term data. It’s only been put in place for a few months, so we don’t have satisfactory information.”
Pinto added that the people of Ambleteuse “had a positive impression of the measures” but said “it’s not a particularly political issue beyond that”.
‘One in, one out’ extension amid wider reforms
The decision to extend the ‘one in, one out’ deal comes just under a month after British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez agreed a new three-year cooperation deal to curb small boats crossings, with the UK pledging £660 million.
At the same time, French police appear to be getting more drastic in their attempts to prevent crossings.
Earlier this month, reporters from The Times witnessed members of the French CRS police force forcibly separating children from their parents, leaving one three-year-old boy to make the crossing without his mother. The boy is understood to have arrived safely and is now in immigration detention.
Police watch as migrants board a dinghy as they prepare to sail into the English Channel from Gravelines last month (Photo: Tom Nicholson/Getty)The French Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Utopia56, a French NGO which helps migrants in the north of the country, said: “This agreement, presented as a legal pathway, cannot work as long as the so-called legal pathway isn’t independent of conditions.”
They added: “This agreement reached last July has not reduced crossings. It has been extended until October on the grounds that there wasn’t enough data. I think it’s mainly because the UK is struggling to play its part, blocking transfers while pushing for readmissions.”
However, a spokesperson for the Home Office pushed back, saying: “Under our returns agreement with France, we have deported more than 600 illegal migrants from British soil. This contributes to the nearly 60,000 illegal migrants who have been returned since July 2024, up 31 percent on the 19 months prior.
“This is just one part of our wider reforms to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to the UK and ramp up the return of those with no right to be here.”
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