Ministers prepare to deport migrants as Reform unveils small boats plan

Ministers are reportedly ready to send more than 100 small boats arrivals back across the Channel, as Reform UK sets out its plans to grasp the migrant crisis.

Sir Keir Starmer will implement his one in, one out migrant deal with France within weeks, according to The Times, amid mounting criticism of his approach to small boat crossings.

The newspaper reported that a group of 100-plus migrants currently in detention, including some arrested over the weekend, could be among the first to be sent back to France under the scheme.

Nigel Farage meanwhile hit out at the Prime Minister’s plans, as he prepares to unveil on Tuesday Reform UK’s bid to tackle illegal migration with an overhaul of human rights law and mass deportations.

A record 28,288 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year so far, after 212 people did so on Sunday in four boats, making the total 46% more than by the same date in 2024.

Further boats were seen embarking on the dangerous journey on Monday, though the official number of those who made the crossing has not yet been published.

Sir Keir is facing growing pressure from senior Labour figures and his own supporters, who feel the Government’s attempts to tackle the migrant crisis have so far failed.

YouGov polling released over the weekend found that 71% of voters believe the Prime Minister is handling the asylum hotel issue badly, including 56% of Labour supporters.

Mr Farage told The Times the number of deportations in Sir Keir’s deal with France are “so minimal as to make no difference”.

“It isn’t going to work, it isn’t going to happen. The French aren’t there to help us,” he added.

The Reform leader has pledged to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and scrap the Human Rights Act as part of his plans to tackle illegal migration.

Writing for The Telegraph, he described international treaties governing human rights law as “malign influences” which had been “allowed to frustrate deportations”.

The party aims to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, which would only apply to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK.

Those who come to the UK on small boats and other unauthorised routes would meanwhile have no right to claim asylum.

Reform would aim to house them in facilities at old military bases, before they were deported to their country of origin, or to third countries such as Rwanda or Albania.

Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle told The Guardian both Reform and the Tories offered nothing more than “fantasy solutions” to the crisis.

“These are back-of-the-fag-packet plans without the substance on delivery,” she said ahead of Mr Farage’s announcement.

A Government source meanwhile told the paper that “by the end of the year at least five more hotels are expected to be closed, with a big surge in closures in the new year”.

Protests at sites housing asylum seekers continued over the weekend and the Government is braced for further legal fights over the use of hotels.