The United Kingdom and France have ended their "one in, one out" migration pilot, which was meant to discourage dangerous Channel crossings. London announced on Wednesday, 30 September, that no new cases were being processed under the scheme. Its trial period was due to expire on Thursday, 1 October.
The agreement, struck in July 2025, was the first of its kind. Under it, France agreed to take back people who had reached the UK by small boat, while Britain agreed to admit, through a legal route, an equivalent number of people from France. The Channel is the narrow stretch of sea between the two countries, and the crossing has become one of Europe's most politically charged migration routes. The two governments had given themselves about a year and a half to test the idea. Human rights groups criticised it from the start.
The figures suggest it did not meet its aim. Almost 1,400 people were transferred from Britain to France, against an initial target of 2,600. That is only about 4% of those who arrived on British shores in small boats. Meanwhile, British authorities recorded about 50,000 crossings in 2025 and nearly 17,000 in the first six months of 2026, with numbers rising since 2023 despite the threat of removal. The Guardian has reported that around 50 people sent back to France crossed the Channel again. In February, France's ambassador for migration, Cyrille Baumgartner, told a parliamentary inquiry that the scheme's success would be judged by changes in crossing numbers.
British ministers had pushed to extend the experiment. But Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs two weeks ago that the numbers "remain relatively modest" and pointed to many operational obstacles, notably within the French system, while acknowledging that the task was also complex for Britain. Paris had long been more reluctant about a bilateral deal. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said in June that France wanted a more European approach, arguing it could no longer be the only country responsible for an external border of the European Union.
The end of the pilot matters because it was presented as a flagship response to the crossings. Britain, outside the EU since Brexit, no longer enjoys the same level of cooperation with Brussels. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that leaving the bloc made it harder to tackle irregular crossings. His government is reportedly considering a different approach: tougher border controls combined with safe, legal routes for asylum seekers, which he argues would undercut a main source of income for people-smuggling gangs.