France to end UK 'one in, one out' migrant returns deal
France has confirmed it is ending the 'one in, one out' migrant returns pilot with Britain, with the deal expected to formally expire on Thursday.
France is ending its “one in, one out” migrant returns pilot with the United Kingdom, with the agreement expected to formally expire on Thursday.
The French Interior Ministry confirmed the exit to Le Monde on Tuesday, saying: “We are discussing with the British the terms of exiting the agreement.”
UK government sources separately told UKPulse the deal will conclude on Thursday, 1 October, after negotiations stalled over French demands for a Europe-wide arrangement.
The pilot, announced in July 2025 by Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, was extended from April to 1 October. Under it, each migrant arriving by small boat and returned to France was matched by Britain admitting an asylum seeker through a legal route.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged President Emmanuel Macron to continue the scheme at their early-September meeting in London, but Paris prefers a broader EU deal.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told a French parliamentary inquiry in June that the pilot “was not intended to be renewed beyond 1 October 2026”, and that France should not carry it alone.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said about 1,400 people were returned under the scheme at an average cost of £56,000 each, and questioned whether an EU-wide system would be a “silver bullet”.
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