Crackdown on small boat arrivals similar to EU-Turkiye deal, comes as Starmer comes under increasing pressure from the hard right.
UK and France agree on need for new migration boat crossing ‘deterrent’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have reached an agreement on a pilot programme to return migrants and refugees arriving in small boats, in a scheme to curb crossings over the English Channel.
In a joint press conference on Thursday, Starmer said people arriving in the United Kingdom on small boats will “be detained and returned to France in short order”.
The British leader added that for every migrant returned, a different individual would be allowed “to come here via a safe route: controlled and legal, subject to strict security checks and only open to those who have not tried to enter the UK illegally”.
