Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 10, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleUK and France have agreed on a pilot program to return migrants arriving in small boats, allowing controlled legal immigration with security checks.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Thursday reached an agreement with France on a pilot programme to return migrants arriving in small boats, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
"Migrants arriving via small boat will be detained and returned to France in short order," Starmer said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Starmer said that for every migrant returned, a different individual would 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."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Sachin Ravikumar, writing by Sam Tabahriti; editing by William James)
The program aims to return migrants arriving in small boats back to France quickly. This initiative is part of an agreement reached between the UK and France.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the agreement during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
For every migrant returned, a different individual will be allowed to enter the UK through a safe route, which is controlled and legal, subject to strict security checks.
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