Responding to today’s announcement of a UK-France deal on Channel migrant routes and returns, British Future Director Sunder Katwala said:
“This is a breakthrough that many said wouldn’t happen. It establishes the principle of cooperation between Britain and France on migration routes and returns. Getting that right will determine whether the government succeeds or fails on Channel crossings.
“The big question is whether a limited pilot scheme can actually reduce the number of small boats. Removing 50 people a week is unlikely to disrupt the smugglers’ business model – since most people would know this is unlikely to happen to them.
“The risk is that you try it at too small a scale to be effective, and then cancel the scheme because it didn’t deliver results – without ever giving it a proper chance.
“That would be a missed opportunity. At ten times the scale, this deal could start to make a dramatic difference to small boat numbers and put the smugglers out of business.”
