Keir Starmer will focus on migration this week (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer’s flagship plan to tackle the small-boats crisis is in jeopardy following EU objections, it is understood. The Prime Minister was set to announce a “one in, one out” agreement with France.
But Whitehall sources have played down the prospect of a breakthrough this week following an intervention by the European Commission. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said a failure to agree a returns deal with the French president would be ‘another international humiliation’ for the PM.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Philp said: “Yet again, it looks like we are gearing up for another international humiliation for the PM.
“If he can’t even get a scheme where we pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais for a migrant merry-go-round where the same number still come here, what hope do we have.
“He needs to get a grip. Unless all those arriving by small boat are sent back to France, we won’t stop the crossings.”
Under the deal, it is understood a percentage of asylum seekers will be returned to France on landing in Britain. Reports suggested the same number of applicants at an asylum processing centre in France will be accepted.