Labour’s bid to deport the first small boat migrant back to France stalled at the last minute.
One migrant who arrived across the Channel last month had been due to be sent back aboard a scheduled flight to Paris on Monday afternoon.
But the removal under the new ‘one-in, one-out’ deal agreed with president Emmanuel Macron’s government in July was abandoned.
It is thought lawyers for the migrant submitted late legal challenges shortly before the removal was due to take place aboard an Air France service.
The French flag carrier has been the target of protest campaigns organised by Britain’s Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and French charity Auberge des Migrants, urging it not to take part in the operation.
The JCWI published a ‘script’ for members of the public to use when making complaints to Air France which said the removal of migrants was ‘cruel’.
It went on to describe the deportations as ‘violent, abusive and oppressive’, and suggested airline pilots could refuse to fly if they believed a passenger may be ‘disruptive’.
The Daily Mail reported on Monday how Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp had predicted the deal would be hit with a ‘slew of last-minute legal challenges’.
On Monday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the first migrant returns would take place ‘as soon as possible’.
In her first appearance at Commons Home Office questions since her appointment earlier this month, Ms Mahmood said: ‘International cooperation is the key for us securing our borders here at home, and assisting our international partners to do the same with their borders as well.
‘I’m already in touch with my French counterparts. That was a landmark agreement, something the party opposite tried to achieve for many years, but they were all words, no action.
‘It’s this Government that struck that landmark deal, and we are working with our partners in France to get the first fight off the ground as soon as possible.’
The ‘one-in, one-out’ deal came into effect on August 7 and since then 5,435 small boat migrants have reached Britain.
About 100 migrants are thought to have been detained for potential removal under the scheme.
Plans to remove dozens of migrants aboard chartered aircraft are understood to have been abandoned in favour of placing small groups, or a single migrant, aboard scheduled services.
They would be accompanied by up to half a dozen Home Office escort officers.
The delay in the first removal will be a further blow for the Government as it comes under intense pressure to tackle the Channel crisis.
So far this year 31,026 migrants have arrived, up 38 per cent on the same period last year.
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 – such as those with relatives already in Britain or from countries which see high levels of applicants granted refugee status – will be flown here by the Home Office and handed a visa lasting up to three months 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 Home Office refused to discuss details of the returns scheme.
