Giving evidence to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee on 21 September, UK Immigration Minister Shabana Mahmood revealed that Britain has spent £78 million returning 1 400 irregular Channel crossers to France under the year-old “one in, one out” pilot scheme – an average of £56 000 per person. Under the arrangement, France accepts people who entered the UK illegally by small boat in exchange for the UK resettling an equal number of screened asylum-seekers already on French soil. French officials have signalled they would prefer to wrap up the bilateral pilot when it expires on 1 October and fold returns into a wider EU framework, arguing that the boutique deal diverts resources from joint coastal-patrol efforts. Negotiations are under way to extend or replace the scheme, but the cost figures have fuelled political criticism on both sides of the Channel. For France, the pilot has been a double-edged sword: it does reduce camp populations in Calais and Dunkirk, yet it also obliges prefectures to absorb returned migrants who may re-enter the clandestine circuit if UK resettlement numbers fall short. Business groups in Hauts-de-France worry that termination without an EU-backed alternative could see new spikes in beach departures, triggering road closures and police checks that disrupt freight flows through the Calais logistics corridor. From a corporate-immigration angle the headline is financial. UK authorities argue £56 000 per removal is broadly on par with hotel-accommodation costs for a failed asylum-seeker, but critics note that expenditure does nothing to speed work-permit processing for companies who legitimately move staff between the two countries. French employers, meanwhile, fear that a collapsed deal could push Paris to harden visa issuance for British posted workers to gain leverage in negotiations. Mobility managers should watch for an announcement before 1 October. If talks fail, expect heightened UK-bound security checks at French ports and a temporary rise in small-boat traffic, both of which could snarl commercial travel across the Strait of Dover.
Source: Conservative Post
