The United Kingdom and France in talks on the return of migrants’ return agreement

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British and French governments are holding talks on the agreement of immigrant returns involving one person who is deported from the United Kingdom in exchange for sending France in the other direction, amid hopes that can be arranged to a broader European initiative.

British and French officials are taking place in early discussions about a pilot scheme whereby a small number of irregular immigrants who have encountered the English channel will be sent to the United Kingdom to France.

British officials said that the United Kingdom would look forward to accepting France with a limited number of immigrants who have the right to be in Britain, especially those who have a legal issue that has not been reunited with the family.

France is ready to test such a scheme, despite its long -term preference for an arrangement at the level of the European Union, because it believes that the revenue agreement will deter travelers and migrants.

Before reaching power, Sir Kerr Starmer said he would look forward to reaching an agreement with the European Union, but this deal has not yet been achieved.

Starmer is keen to persuade voters, has a plan to address irregular immigration to Britain and “destroy gangs” participating in the transfer of asylum seekers through the channel in small boats, as it seeks to repel the electoral threat posed by the Popular Reform Party in the United Kingdom.

One of the British officials said: “We are in early discussions about a scheme that would see a small number of immigrants who returned to France in exchange for our acceptance of others, in line with what we discussed … about the priorities of the family reunification,” said one of the British officials.

“We are increasing our cooperation with France and other European countries facing the same challenges by exploring new and innovative measures to dismantle business models in criminal smuggling gangs,” said a UK’s house spokesman.

The Ministry of Interior in France confirmed that the country was in negotiations with the United Kingdom on an agreement to restore some irregular migrants who crossed the channel.

“The interest of France is the inhibition of immigrants (and the smuggling of networks) from trying to reach the United Kingdom from France,” she said.

The ministry added that the ambition is to extend the project to a broader plan at the European Union level.

She said: “It is a experimental plan that expects a future European agreement, which is supported by France strongly.”

“It depends on one principle for one: for every legal acceptance under the family reunification, there will be a re -reading identical to immigrants who are not documented who managed to cross (the channel).”

Small boat crossings are located throughout the channel at record levels, where nearly 8,200 people have made a trip to the United Kingdom since the beginning of the year, an increase of 30 percent compared to the same period in 2024.

The number of young boats increased by 25 percent in 2024, to more than 37,000.

European Union officials have warned that extending the potential experimental plan in the United Kingdom to the entire bloc is likely to face large road barriers, because many countries do not want to restore the immigrants who Britain rejected, especially with the high number of anti -immigration feelings among some voters.

A European Union diplomat said that French -British discussions were “primary” and was “premature to predict the possible participation of other member states (EU).

Before Britain left the European Union, the United Kingdom was a party to the Dublin list in the European Union, according to which people should be addressed to resort to the country where they entered the bloc for the first time.

However, many European Union countries for the first entry of immigrants, such as Italy, do not apply the rules of Dublin.

The United Kingdom and France already have a widespread partnership for border monitoring called the Touquet Agreement, under which the United Kingdom agreed to pay about 540 million euros to France between 2023 and 2026 in exchange for monitoring the most intense police of the channel.

France has allowed the employment of more officers, periodicals frequently, and the intensification of monitoring, including with drones.

Da`wah groups criticize the most difficult approach as people are at risk seeking to cross the channel.

France and the United Kingdom have also begun to work more closely, as British security officials take over the roles of the observer in French leadership centers around Calais.

Despite close cooperation, France has long rejected some British requests, such as patrols in conjunction with asylum applications in France on behalf of the United Kingdom.