UK-France 'one in, one out' migrant deal scrapped

A UK-French pilot scheme known as "one in, one out," set up to cut the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, has been scrapped. The UK Home Office said in a statement on Wednesday that the deal is "no longer processing new cases", adding "we continue to work with France to relentlessly tackle small boat crossings, and we've made real progress".Under the plan, people who arrived in the UK after making the dangerous Channel crossing could be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who applied through a safe and legal route. 
The deal was agreed in 2025 by former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a bid to help a post-Brexit reset in Paris-London ties by easing what had become a major source of tension between the neighbours.Around 1,500 individuals were sent back to France and a similar number transferred to the UK as part of the scheme, which, though set up to last three years, had a clause allowing the parties to end it earlier. Deportation flights will continue in the coming weeks for those who have already been detained, the Home Office said.
The discontinuation of the deal follows a sharp fall in the number of people making the crossing in 2026 to a five-year low for a variety of reasons, including increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France.The roughly 19,000 who have made the crossing this year is a 40% drop compared to this point in 2025.
As part of the deal, some 1,117 asylum seekers came to the UK from France from August 2025 to June 2026 while 1,087 were deported, according to Home Office data. The deal, which initially set a target of 2,600 exchanges, was earmarked to last for three years, though there was a clause for both parties to bring it to an end earlier.