Sir Keir Starmer’s new “one in, one out” deal with France was in jeopardy last night after a second deportation flight left the country without any migrants on board.
It is the second day in a row that the Home Office has failed to deport migrants on passenger flights intended to get the returns deal underway.
Several migrants who were due to be among the first to be sent back to France under the swap deal have had their removal delayed after legal challenges, and the first legal case reached the High Court on Tuesday afternoon, with a detained asylum seeker arguing against his planned deportation, which was set for Wednesday.
The Home Office has booked seats for migrants on several flights this week, with asylum seekers given directions for deportation on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Multiple flights are planned on Wednesday,The Independent understands.
Downing Street denied that the government’s return deal with France was a shambles, or that its plans had been hampered by legal action. A spokesperson for No 10 also denied that the latest postponement showed that ministers were powerless in the face of the courts, adding: “As I said, we have never provided an operational running commentary on the details of the scheme.”
Numerous asylum seekers are believed to have issued letters before legal action to the Home Office, detailing why they should not be removed to France, and officials have cancelled their plane tickets and deportation notices.
The development is a massive blow to Sir Keir, who is trying to turn round a 10-point lag in the polls behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, with the worsening migrant crisis being a key issue.
There are high hopes that the one-in, one-out deal will break the business model of the gangs behind the small boat crossings, but the latest legal delays look set to scupper hopes of an early success.
The issue has brought back memories of the notorious Rwanda scheme launched by the Conservatives, which failed after it was tied up in legal knots.
Some of the asylum seekers who have been detained at the Brook House detention centre at Gatwick under the scheme are believed to be survivors of torture and trafficking. Others have received Home Office decisions saying that there are reasonable grounds to believe that they may be victims of modern slavery, it is understood.
The Independent previously reported that children had been detained for removal to France, but these minors have since been released into the care of the local council. At least 12 children whose ages are disputed by officials, meaning they were treated as adults, have been detained under the scheme, with four still in detention, support workers said.
Earlier on Monday, skills minister Jacqui Smith refused to say how many people would be returned to France this week as part of the deal. France is reported to have said it will only be accepting a small number of deportations initially.
Ministers have previously said that the scheme will ramp up the number over time. But on Tuesday, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones refused to say when deportations would actually be carried out.
Ms Davies-Jones declined to give a “running commentary” on when deportations would happen, claiming that this would give people-smugglers “exactly what they want”.
Asked when migrants would be returned, she said: “These deportations will be happening as soon as possible.” But she declined to say when, or whether asylum seekers from France would still fly to the UK later this week under the swap element of the scheme.
The Conservatives said Labour is “too weak to control our borders” and called for the complete repeal of the Human Rights Act for immigration matters.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Two flights, zero deportations. Labour’s France returns deal failed to remove a single migrant, yet thousands more continue to arrive. The government must come clean on whether even one person has been sent to us from France in return.”
The charity Detention Action warned that screening interviews for some migrants are being held after midnight, with some conducted by phone and video conference. This is resulting in poor-quality assessments, they said.
The legal advice service is also fraught with delays, and migrants only have seven days to challenge their removal to France.
Lochlinn Parker, acting director of the charity, said: “Adults and children are arriving from Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria and elsewhere, seeking our protection, only to be locked in small cells and denied the support they urgently need. The new home secretary must change course and stop putting people in even more danger.”
Among the migrants detained for deportation to France are people from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan and Syria, and Kurdish people from a number of countries.
Emma Ginn from Medical Justice said: “Our independent clinicians have medically assessed people in detention under this scheme who are survivors of torture and trafficking, with experiences of sexual abuse and slavery. It is a scheme that ignores the fundamental issue that they are seeking safety, and as such, it’s hard to see how it will be successful on its own terms.”
Griff Ferris, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said the scheme was “just another grim attempt by a government flailing to appease the racist far right. People are not tokens to be exchanged in this dehumanising and immoral way.”
The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel has topped 30,000 for the year so far – the earliest point in a calendar year at which the mark has been passed since data on crossings was first reported in 2018.
A Home Office spokesperson said the department would “not comment on operational details” of the flights.
The spokesperson said: “Under the new UK-France treaty, people crossing in small boats can now be detained and removed to France. We expect the first returns to take place imminently.
“Protecting the UK border is our top priority. We will do whatever it takes to restore order to secure our borders.”
