The Guardian’s on-the-ground report from northern France paints a bleak picture of the UK’s stalled efforts to curb small-boat crossings. Despite the much-trailed *‘one in, one out’* pilot – under which one irregular arrival was swapped for a refugee transferred legally from France – people-smuggling gangs remain entrenched. The scheme formally ended this week after moving about 1,500 people in both directions, well below the volumes ministers hoped for. NGOs operating in Calais say that tougher French policing, partly financed by an extra £660 million in UK funding, has merely pushed crossings further along the coast and driven up violence against migrants. With legal pathways limited and the promised Ukrainian-style visa route still capped at a few hundred places, demand for illicit passages continues. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and refugee charity Care4Calais have now drafted an alternative blueprint: a *refugee visa-to-travel* system that would allow asylum seekers to apply remotely and board commercial transport, removing profit from smuggling gangs. For global mobility managers, the collapse of the deal signals ongoing uncertainty around UK border operations. Business travellers may experience ad-hoc port delays as resources are redeployed to small-boat response, particularly during the autumn weather window when crossings often spike. Companies with operations in Northern France should review employee travel risk assessments and monitor potential protest activity linked to police tactics funded by the UK.
Source: The Guardian
