New Channel farce as ANOTHER ‘hokey cokey’ migrant returns to Britain by small boat after being deported to France
A second migrant has returned to Britain by small boat after being deported under Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ scheme.
In a new farce, the unnamed migrant came back to the UK across the Channel yesterday, Remembrance Sunday.
It comes just days after the first ‘back-and-forth’ migrant was finally deported again.
The new ‘hokey cokey’ case, which was first reported by GB News, will further undermine Labour’s flagship scheme to deal with the Channel crisis.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the returns deal in July after a summit in London with French president Emmanuel Macron.
So far, 94 migrants have been removed and a further 57 have been brought into the UK under the reciprocal terms of the deal.
Since the treaty was announced there have been 17,958 confirmed arrivals across the Channel.
Migrants arrive at the Port of Dover yesterday – the same day a previously-deported migrant came back to Britain
The UK Border Force catamaran, ‘Defender’, picked up scores of migrants mid-Channel yesterday and delivered them to Dover
In the first case of a deported migrant coming back, the Iranian man arrived here on August 6 – the day the deal with France came into force, and was removed from Britain on September 19.
He later slipped out of a migrant shelter in Paris, where he had been housed, and headed back to the northern French coast, re-entering Britain on a small boat on October 18.
The unnamed man was finally removed – for a second time – 18 days later on November 5.
The Home Office said the new to-and-fro migrant had been detained and officials will seek to ‘expedite’ his removal to France.
PM Sir Keir scrapped the Conservatives’ Rwanda asylum deal – which was designed to deter crossings and save lives – as one of his first acts in office.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said migrants returned under the deal were ‘back before you know it’.
‘The Channel is now a revolving door for illegal immigration, and Keir Starmer is waving them through with taxpayer-funded hotel keys,’ he said.
‘Since the French returns deal was announced nearly 18,000 illegal immigrants have arrived and only a handful removed.
‘Starmer is completely out of his depth.
‘In the past four days alone, we have seen over 2,000 arrivals.
‘Labour don’t have a plan, and they certainly don’t have the backbone to take the tough decisions this crisis demands.
‘The government is mired in migrant chaos and has clearly lost control of our borders.’
He added: ‘It was a huge mistake by Keir Starmer to cancel the Rwanda removal deterrent before it even started.
‘We now need tougher action to end this – coming out of the European Convention on Human Rights which will enable us to remove every illegal immigrant within a week of arrival. That is the Conservative plan.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Anyone looking to return to the UK after being removed under the UK-France agreement is wasting their time and money.
‘This individual was detected by biometrics and detained immediately. His case will be expedited, and he will be returned to France as quickly as possible.
‘The message is clear: if you try to return to the UK you will be sent back.
‘We will do whatever it takes to scale up removals of illegal migrants and secure our borders.’
Since Labour came to power last year 62,317 Channel migrants have reached British soil.
The latest fiasco comes after it emerged more than 10,000 small boat migrants have reached Britain since Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary – a grim milestone reached more quickly than under any of her predecessors since 2022.
The 10,000 point was reached after she was in charge of the Home Office for 66 days.
Under her predecessor Yvette Cooper it took 74 days to reach the same milestone.
Ms Cooper was moved sideways to the Foreign Office by the PM after failing to get a grip of the Channel crisis.
Under Tory home secretaries the 10,000 point took 171 days under James Cleverly and 583 days under Priti Patel.
Only under Suella Braverman was the same point reached more quickly, in 43 days in 2022 – the year which saw a record annual number of migrants amid a surge of Albanian arrivals.
