OPINION
Keir Starmer's treaty is a smokescreen (Image: PA)
You can’t fix illegal immigration by legalising it — but that’s exactly what Labour's treaty with France does. Keir Starmer’s much-trumpeted “one in, one out” migration deal with France isn’t a solution — it’s a smokescreen. Behind the diplomatic pageantry, this treaty does precisely the opposite of what the public has been promised. Instead of stemming the surge of illegal Channel crossings, it institutionalises them — and hands the smuggling gangs exactly what they want.
The Home Office is spinning this scheme as a deterrent. In reality, it’s a quota system that legitimises criminal behaviour. We send back 50 who arrived illegally and import 50 more from the same lawless routes — just with fresh paperwork and a different bus stop. This is not what enforcement looks like. Worse still, the treaty offers criminal networks a predictable framework to exploit.
Article continues belowADVERTISEMENT
DON'T MISS
Powered by
Labour has abandoned border control in favour of political convenience
Starmer's migrant deal crumbles on day one as French navy runs 'taxi service' for dinghies
Keir Starmer's migrant crisis one-for-one deal with France comes into force
First migrants detained under Keir Starmer's migrant deal as French 'taxi boats' to UK
Farage rages at Starmer for throwing away taxpayer cash with ￡100m migrant gang fund
First migrants to be returned to France set to be detained within days
Deluded Keir Starmer shows how wrong Labour's priorities are with one new scheme
Keir Starmer torn apart on TalkTV as Reform MP rages 'They're laughing at us!'
Moment suspected small boat people smuggler is arrested by UK's FBI
Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats to the UK
Watch the moment the first migrants set to be sent back to France were detained
How Rachel Reeves could stop migrant boats with one tax change
Migrant crisis fury as French forces escort boat then ask UK to return life jackets
Keir Starmer's migrant deal is so bad it's actually making it EASIER to get to UK
GB News halted as Starmer is dealt humiliating three-word blow over migrant crossings
Reform UK's huge boost as Nigel Farage snatches key support from Labour and Tories
Keir Starmer's small boats deal is about as robust as death-trap dinghies migrants use
POLL: Should Yvette Cooper resign TODAY over migration chaos?
Nigel Farage: We're in a national security crisis unless we get grip of illegal migration
Labour minister torn apart by GMB's Kate Garraway's furious four-word question
Labour has abandoned border control in favour of political convenience
Starmer's migrant deal crumbles on day one as French navy runs 'taxi service' for dinghies
Keir Starmer's migrant crisis one-for-one deal with France comes into force
First migrants detained under Keir Starmer's migrant deal as French 'taxi boats' to UK
Farage rages at Starmer for throwing away taxpayer cash with ￡100m migrant gang fund
First migrants to be returned to France set to be detained within days
Deluded Keir Starmer shows how wrong Labour's priorities are with one new scheme
Keir Starmer torn apart on TalkTV as Reform MP rages 'They're laughing at us!'
Moment suspected small boat people smuggler is arrested by UK's FBI
Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats to the UK
Watch the moment the first migrants set to be sent back to France were detained
How Rachel Reeves could stop migrant boats with one tax change
Migrant crisis fury as French forces escort boat then ask UK to return life jackets
Keir Starmer's migrant deal is so bad it's actually making it EASIER to get to UK
GB News halted as Starmer is dealt humiliating three-word blow over migrant crossings
Reform UK's huge boost as Nigel Farage snatches key support from Labour and Tories
Keir Starmer's small boats deal is about as robust as death-trap dinghies migrants use
POLL: Should Yvette Cooper resign TODAY over migration chaos?
Nigel Farage: We're in a national security crisis unless we get grip of illegal migration
Labour minister torn apart by GMB's Kate Garraway's furious four-word question
Labour has abandoned border control in favour of political convenience
Starmer's migrant deal crumbles on day one as French navy runs 'taxi service' for dinghies
Keir Starmer's migrant crisis one-for-one deal with France comes into force
First migrants detained under Keir Starmer's migrant deal as French 'taxi boats' to UK
Farage rages at Starmer for throwing away taxpayer cash with ￡100m migrant gang fund
First migrants to be returned to France set to be detained within days
Deluded Keir Starmer shows how wrong Labour's priorities are with one new scheme
Keir Starmer torn apart on TalkTV as Reform MP rages 'They're laughing at us!'
Moment suspected small boat people smuggler is arrested by UK's FBI
Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats to the UK
Watch the moment the first migrants set to be sent back to France were detained
How Rachel Reeves could stop migrant boats with one tax change
Migrant crisis fury as French forces escort boat then ask UK to return life jackets
Keir Starmer's migrant deal is so bad it's actually making it EASIER to get to UK
GB News halted as Starmer is dealt humiliating three-word blow over migrant crossings
Reform UK's huge boost as Nigel Farage snatches key support from Labour and Tories
Keir Starmer's small boats deal is about as robust as death-trap dinghies migrants use
POLL: Should Yvette Cooper resign TODAY over migration chaos?
Nigel Farage: We're in a national security crisis unless we get grip of illegal migration
Labour minister torn apart by GMB's Kate Garraway's furious four-word question
Read more: 'Hard-Left keeps sending UK message – it's time we sent one of our own'
Read more: 'Migration is in crisis and Reform UK has not given British people answers'
The message to the gangs couldn’t be clearer: keep sending the boats — Britain will take them, one way or another. Far from “smashing the gangs,” it creates a stable, state-sanctioned market for their business model.
No serious effort is being made to close the launch points in France, where boats depart daily under the nose of the French authorities. Britain keeps pouring hundreds of millions into Macron’s “cooperation,” yet not a single credible disruption has materialised. The result? Record crossings, spiralling costs, and a Home Office reduced to glorified logistics — facilitating illegal migration while pretending to manage it.
And the scale of this farce becomes even clearer when you look at the numbers. This scheme proposes to remove just 50 migrants per week. Meanwhile, in some cases, over 1,000 arrive across the Channel each day. By the time this deal has removed 2,600 people in a year, well over 40,000 to 50,000 will have entered illegally — and every one deported will simply be swapped for another.
Nothing is being solved. We’re not reducing numbers — we’re legitimising them through a bureaucratic shell game. Even more insulting is the moral doublethink underpinning this treaty. Those arriving illegally under this system are still lawbreakers.
They’ve crossed our borders without permission. But instead of treating them as criminals, this government will process them into legal status — simply because they’re part of a “swap.” The rest will be put up in hotels, funded by the taxpayer, with access to benefits that law-abiding citizens increasingly can’t secure for themselves.
It won’t deter illegal migration — it will fuel it. Traffickers will be emboldened, not defeated. And the burden will fall squarely on working Britons, watching their taxes and communities eroded by a system that refuses to enforce its own borders.
DON'T MISS
Powered by
Deluded Keir Starmer shows how wrong Labour's priorities are with one new scheme
Keir Starmer torn apart on TalkTV as Reform MP rages 'They're laughing at us!'
Moment suspected small boat people smuggler is arrested by UK's FBI
Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats to the UK
Watch the moment the first migrants set to be sent back to France were detained
How Rachel Reeves could stop migrant boats with one tax change
Migrant crisis fury as French forces escort boat then ask UK to return life jackets
Keir Starmer's migrant deal is so bad it's actually making it EASIER to get to UK
GB News halted as Starmer is dealt humiliating three-word blow over migrant crossings
Reform UK's huge boost as Nigel Farage snatches key support from Labour and Tories
Keir Starmer's small boats deal is about as robust as death-trap dinghies migrants use
POLL: Should Yvette Cooper resign TODAY over migration chaos?
Nigel Farage: We're in a national security crisis unless we get grip of illegal migration
Labour minister torn apart by GMB's Kate Garraway's furious four-word question
Labour has abandoned border control in favour of political convenience
Starmer's migrant deal crumbles on day one as French navy runs 'taxi service' for dinghies
Keir Starmer's migrant crisis one-for-one deal with France comes into force
First migrants detained under Keir Starmer's migrant deal as French 'taxi boats' to UK
Farage rages at Starmer for throwing away taxpayer cash with ￡100m migrant gang fund
First migrants to be returned to France set to be detained within days
Deluded Keir Starmer shows how wrong Labour's priorities are with one new scheme
Keir Starmer torn apart on TalkTV as Reform MP rages 'They're laughing at us!'
Moment suspected small boat people smuggler is arrested by UK's FBI
Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats to the UK
Watch the moment the first migrants set to be sent back to France were detained
How Rachel Reeves could stop migrant boats with one tax change
Migrant crisis fury as French forces escort boat then ask UK to return life jackets
Keir Starmer's migrant deal is so bad it's actually making it EASIER to get to UK
GB News halted as Starmer is dealt humiliating three-word blow over migrant crossings
Reform UK's huge boost as Nigel Farage snatches key support from Labour and Tories
Keir Starmer's small boats deal is about as robust as death-trap dinghies migrants use
POLL: Should Yvette Cooper resign TODAY over migration chaos?
Nigel Farage: We're in a national security crisis unless we get grip of illegal migration
Labour minister torn apart by GMB's Kate Garraway's furious four-word question
Labour has abandoned border control in favour of political convenience
Starmer's migrant deal crumbles on day one as French navy runs 'taxi service' for dinghies
Keir Starmer's migrant crisis one-for-one deal with France comes into force
First migrants detained under Keir Starmer's migrant deal as French 'taxi boats' to UK
Farage rages at Starmer for throwing away taxpayer cash with ￡100m migrant gang fund
First migrants to be returned to France set to be detained within days
Deluded Keir Starmer shows how wrong Labour's priorities are with one new scheme
Keir Starmer torn apart on TalkTV as Reform MP rages 'They're laughing at us!'
Moment suspected small boat people smuggler is arrested by UK's FBI
Keir Starmer breaks silence on migrant deal hours after French escort more boats to the UK
Watch the moment the first migrants set to be sent back to France were detained
How Rachel Reeves could stop migrant boats with one tax change
Migrant crisis fury as French forces escort boat then ask UK to return life jackets
Starmer and Macron may pat themselves on the back for a “breakthrough,” but in reality this treaty is nothing but the transfer of British sovereignty to the EU. We are agreeing to take migrants we didn’t invite, from a process we don’t control, under quotas we can’t limit. That is not control — it’s capitulation.
Starmer wants headlines in Brussels, not outcomes for Britain. He wants applause from foreign elites, not protection for our citizens. This treaty is the clearest proof yet: the political class is more concerned with performance than principle.
Because until we stop the boats — for real — this crisis will only escalate. Public patience is gone. Tensions are at boiling point. The only thing this treaty guarantees is more crossings, more chaos, and more betrayal.
Read Next
SUBSCRIBEInvalid email
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy