Keir Starmer announces ‘one in, one out’ migration deal with France

The deal has been dubbed 'groundbreaking'

The PM held a press conference today with the president of La République with both leaders pledging to tackle a "global crisis" of illegal migration.

Starmer confirmed the establishment of a "one in, one out" deal and hailed it "groundbreaking".

The policy will allow the UK to return illegal migrants to France quickly in exchange for an asylum seeker who had travelled to the UK via safe means.

Starmer said: "In exchange for every return, a different individual will be allowed to come here via a safe route - controlled and legal - subject to strict security checks, and only open to those who have not tried to enter the UK illegally."

He said that migrants arriving illegally will be "detained and returned to France in short order" and added that the agreement will come into force in the coming weeks as a pilot test.

Starmer said that the UK should continue to accept legitimate asylum seeker, however, those arriving must undergo "strict security checks".

The PM said: “I know some people will still ask, why should we take anyone in? So let me address that directly.

“We accept genuine asylum seekers because it is right that we offer a haven to those in most dire need.

"But there is also something else, something more practical which is that we simply cannot solve a challenge like stopping the boats by acting alone and telling our allies that we won’t play ball.

“That is why today’s agreement is so important, because we will solve this, like so many of our problems, by working together.”