Small boat migrants who lodge human rights claims in Britain will evade being returned to France under a massive loophole in Labour’s new deal.
They will be ruled out of new deportation measures if legal claims are outstanding or if they claim to be under 18, it emerged.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the human rights loophole would be ‘ruthlessly exploited’ by lawyers.
A new treaty with President Emmanuel Macron’s government, published today, also disclosed the British taxpayer will foot the bill for both sides of the deal, which will see migrants who came here illegally across the Channel exchanged ‘one for one’ with others still in France.
Migrants in France will be flown to Britain by the Home Office and handed a visa to live here for up to three months after successfully applying, while their final application is considered.
Officials insisted there will be ‘rigorous’ security checks even though the French will not hand over any personal details on migrants coming here – including any criminal records they may hold on them.
The first small boat arrivals could be detained as early as tomorrow for possible removal to France.
However, the details of the treaty open up the prospect of human rights lawyers encouraging migrants to lodge spurious claims simply to avoid being earmarked for removal.
Under the terms of the agreement the Home Office will confirm after selecting a migrant that ‘at the time of their transfer that person will not have an outstanding human rights claim’.
It also sets out how removals will be blocked if a migrant has outstanding legal challenges or has obtained an injunction from a court which bars their removal.
There was confusion over a further clause referring to human rights claims which have been ruled by Home Office caseworkers to be ‘clearly unfounded’.
Mr Philp said the drafting of the clause showed even ‘clearly unfounded’ claims would successfully block deportation – but the Home Office disputed his reading of the text.
As it was unveiled for the first time less than a month ago, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hailed the deal as ‘groundbreaking’ and promised small boats migrants would be ‘detained and returned to France in short order’.
Mr Philp said: ‘This deal is likely to be completely unworkable and will be ruthlessly exploited by human rights lawyers to prevent people being returned to France.
‘Even a “clearly unfounded” human rights claim will stop a return to France while it goes through a lengthy court process.’
He added: ‘This deal has no numbers in it – presumably because they are so small.
‘And the deal says that France will not provide any information at all about those they are sending to the UK – so they could be criminals or terrorists and we wouldn’t know.
‘This is a bad deal, which won’t work.’
The treaty confirmed any migrant who claims to be an ‘unaccompanied minor’ will not be deported.
There has been a series of cases in recent years which have seen asylum seekers falsely claim to be under 18.
The UK will fund flights from France for migrants selected to come here under the scheme, the treaty went on, as well as paying for migrants to be removed.
Home Office officials who accompany migrants on removals flights will not be allowed to use physical force in France, prompting questions about their safety aboard the aircraft.
Both France and the UK will be able to suspend the deal with just one week’s notice – and fully terminate it with one month’s notice.
Separate documents revealed migrants brought to the UK as part of the deal will be barred from working or accessing benefits during the initial three month period, while the Home Office considers whether it will grant a longer visa.
It is unclear where the migrants will be housed, however, opening the prospect of them being placed in taxpayer-funded hotels.
The number of people accepted from France will have a ‘cap’ equal to the number of small boat migrants who are sent back under the deal, the documents showed.
But the Home Office was unable to confirm the level of the cap.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper repeatedly refused to say how many migrants will be returned under the deal because it ‘could help the smuggling gangs’.
Last month it was suggested the scheme would see 50 migrants a week sent back to France. At that rate, just 2,200 would be returned before the agreement expires on June 11 next year
By comparison, a record 25,436 migrants have reached Britain by small boat since the start of the year, up 49 per cent on the same period last year.
Meanwhile, pro-migrant groups have already indicated they are prepared to bring legal challenges against the new policy – just as they did against the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda asylum deal.
Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty International UK said: ‘We anticipate that this deal is likely to face legal challenges from people who quite reasonably will resist being swapped around like mere fodder rather than addressing the claim for asylum they have made.’
