A FLOOD of migrants raced across a French beach to get on an overcrowded dinghy – with the coastguard handing them life jackets.
The group of migrants raced to get on an inflatable dinghy to leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the .
It comes after a new migrant deal was agreed between the UK and France in a bid to tackle the small boats crisis.
The migrants were pictured trying to board the dinghy on the beach of Petit-Fort-Philippe in Gravelines, near , France.
Around 40 people, believed to be about half of the full group that scrambled over the sands, left the coast of France.
Authorities handed over lifejackets to those on the boat.
It comes after a new ‘one-in-one-out’ migrant deal was agreed with the country.
But France will be able to choose which migrants to take back – prompting .
The details of eachwill be given to France, allowing it to reject those with a criminal record or deemed a security risk.
Bothwill have a veto over which of the small boat migrants they take in.
Britain will take into account if the migrants have aand if they have lived here before.
Revealed in the Plan:
- Migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France in short order
- A one-in, one-out system will operate with migrants sent back to France in exchange for asylum seekers
- The plan is merely a pilot scheme – which could be canned if it doesn’t work
- Only 50 a week will be sent packing – a fraction of the thousands crossing into the UK
There may be an uptick in migrants stowing away in cars and lorries, or taking more dangerous routes into the country.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron confirmed awill return small boat migrants to France – but only 50 a week will be sent packing.
The PM hailed the “groundbreaking”; returns’ scheme as “aggressive”; – but admitted it was merely a pilot plan that would deal with just a fraction of the migrants trying to cross the Channel every day.
na joint press conference with the French President, Sir Keir confirmed that in exchange for sending unlawful migrants back,thewho have “legitimate claims”; and family in Britain.
Only those who haven’t tried to enter the country illegally before will be eligible for the scheme, which will come into force “in weeks”;.
The PM hailed the plan as“hard-headed, aggressive action”; and boasted that “previous governments tried and failed to secure results like this”;.
Butthe agreement is the equivalent of just 2,600 returns annually (50 a week), compared with the 44,000 who have arrived sincetookpowera year ago.
And this year alone more than 21,117 migrants have crossed the Channel – a 56 per cent rise on the same period in 2024.
But Sir Keir admitted the new deal won’t necessarily end the crisis, saying: “There is no silver bullet here”;.
And it was revealed the plan could descend into a legal wrangle – with “returned”; migrants able to launch lengthy battles through the courts.
It means the system could get bogged down with ongoing legal cases – and the whole plan thwarted in the.
