News

UK-France ‘one in, one out’ deal to expire on Thursday – reports

01 Oct 2026 3 minute read

A group of people thought to be migrants on a dinghy near the beach at Gravelines, France. Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

George Lithgow, Press Association Political and Home Affairs Correspondent

The Government’s “one in, one out” deal with France, aimed at curbing migrant Channel crossings, will expire on Thursday, according to reports.

Under the pilot scheme, people who arrive in the UK after making the journey can be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who apply through a safe and legal route.

As part of the deal, some 1,117 asylum seekers came to Britain from France from August 2025 to June 2026 while slightly fewer (1,087) were deported, according to Home Office data.

But talks to extend it beyond October 1 have stalled, The Guardian reported, with Paris pushing for a Europe-wide deal instead.

After Brexit, the UK was removed from the Dublin Agreement, a deal which allowed member states to return refugees to the country where they first arrived.

A breakdown of the figures shows that in some months there were more transfers out than in, such as March 2026, when 109 people left and 73 arrived.

Other months have seen more transfers in than out, such as June 2026, when 314 arrived and 264 left.

Downing Street previously defended the plan, which was initially set to run until June, insisting the numbers would “fluctuate”.

Earlier this week, inspectors found migrants being sent to France under the deal are not receiving “speedy legal representation” while they stay in poorly ventilated rooms.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) also found a “failure to explore modern slavery indicators” at Tinsley House immigration removal centre, near Gatwick Airport.

Books about law in the library “were out of date”, according to a report into the centre by chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor, while detainees being removed to France were given “very little information about what they could expect” on the European continent.

In his report, Mr Taylor wrote: “Detainees were anxious about their cases with many having arrived at the centre having expected to be placed in a hotel.”

A family of three, including a young child, were the first migrants to arrive in the UK in September under the immigration deal.

It is understood they were granted three-month visas with no right to work and no recourse to public funds.

At least two migrants tried to come back to the UK by crossing the Channel again after being returned to France under the deal but were detained and due to be sent back again, officials said.

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