Yvette Cooper today admitted she does not know how many Channel migrants will be returned to France under Labour’s vaunted deal.
The Home Secretary said the numbers had not even been ‘fixed’ for the pilot stage of the ‘one in, one out’ scheme – after negotiations went down to the wire.
The acknowledgement came amid claims that the pact agreed by Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron during his state visit to the UK is already unravelling.
There are questions over whether the scheme – which would see Britain send some Channel arrivals back but agree to take other asylum seekers from France – could even be blocked by the EU Commission.
Unveiling the plan alongside Mr Macron last night, Sir Keir claimed it was ‘ground-breaking’ and would ‘prove the concept that if you come over by small boats, then you will be returned to France’.
But as the Anglo-French summit was being held, hundreds more migrants were crossing the Channel from northern France. Border experts said the proposals were ‘scratching a very bare minimum of the surface’.
Leaks had suggested 50 migrants a week, around one in 17 arrivals, would be sent back to France initially. But that was seemingly not signed off by the leaders.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, Ms Cooper said: ‘The numbers are not fixed, even for this pilot phase that we are starting now.
‘So this will be a programme that we roll out step-by-step, and we will provide updates as we go.
‘But we are going to do this in a steady way.’
Despite signs EU states could object to the UK-France deal, Ms Cooper told LBC she was confident Brussels would let it go ahead.
‘We have been talking to the EU commissioners. We’ve also been talking to other European interior ministers and governments throughout this process,’ she said.
‘The French interior minister and I have been speaking about this to develop this since October of last year, and the EU commissioners have been very supportive.
‘So that is why we have designed this in a way to work, not just for the UK and France, but in order to fit with all their concerns as well.’
She added: ‘Because we’ve done that work all the way through, we do expect the EU Commission to continue to be supportive.’
Ms Cooper also played down Mr Macron’s jibe that Brexit had made tackling illegal immigration harder, arguing people smugglers would ‘weaponise anything’.
Since Labour came to power, 44,359 small-boat migrants have reached Dover, including 21,117 so far this year – a 50 per cent leap on the same period last year.
The figures do not include up to 400 arrivals who made it to British soil yesterday, just as the two leaders announced the migrant plan in a press conference.
Sir Keir said the governments were taking ‘hard-headed, aggressive action’.
‘For the very first time, migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France in short order,’ he 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.’
But the PM failed to say how quickly migrants will be sent back in total or on a weekly basis when the scheme launches, which he said would be in the ‘coming weeks’.
Mr Macron said the deal needed legal ratification first, without putting a time frame on it.
Critics have derided the concept of a ‘migrant merry go round’. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the deal with France is a ‘gimmick’ which will be ‘no deterrent whatsoever’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘What they announced yesterday is a gimmick, just like ‘smash the gangs’ was a gimmick as well.
‘And the reason it’s a gimmick is the numbers will be tiny.
‘It’s been reported it will be only 50 a week, something the Prime Minister didn’t contradict when it was put to him yesterday.
‘Now 50 a week only represents 6% of people crossing the Channel, which means that 94% under this new scheme proposed, 94% will be allowed to stay and quite clearly, allowing 94% of illegal immigrants to stay in the UK will be no deterrent whatsoever.’
