Labour's 'one in, one out' migrant deal with France is scrapped after just over a year in operation

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026 · last updated 1 October 2026.

The Home Office has confirmed that Britain's 'one in, one out' migrant exchange deal with France is finished, with the scheme no longer processing new cases after just over a year. The arrangement — under which small boat arrivals were returned to France in exchange for an equal number of asylum seekers with UK links — removed around 1,500 people to France at an average cost of £56,000 per person. Talks collapsed after France demanded a broader EU-wide agreement that other European countries have reportedly refused to join. Remaining flights to remove those already detained will continue for several weeks before the scheme winds down entirely.

Deported migrants sent back to France have been sleeping rough in Paris, returning to Calais camps, or simply crossing the Channel again.

One senior French immigration official was blunt: 'It's over — France has been asking for a European agreement from the start but the other countries don't want it.'

Labour scrapped the Conservatives' Rwanda scheme as one of its first acts in office in 2024, making this its own flagship replacement — now also dead.