A cabinet minister has asserted that Keir Starmer’s returns agreement with France remains on track, even after a judicial injunction blocked the removal of an Eritrean man.
The minister stated that the last-minute court order stopping the individual from being flown to Paris will not derail the “one in, one out” plan permanently.
Earlier this week, a court official issued a temporary injunction after the anonymous man argued he was a victim of trafficking and risked destitution if returned to France.
She told Times Radio that she would not discuss operational details, but reiterated: “This is one person. It is not going to undermine the core principle of this deal.”
A solicitor acting for asylum seekers criticized the government’s “arbitrary and chaotic approach” to selecting individuals for removal, including cases where children were wrongly identified.
The lawyer from her firm said: “They have taken quite an arbitrary and chaotic approach to selecting people coming via small boats.”
She noted that minors were included in the system despite guidelines state they must be explicitly removed from deportation plans.
Reports indicated that two underage boys were wrongly selected for the program last month.
UK authorities last month held dozens Channel migrants under the scheme, pledging to send them back to France “in a short time.”
Originally, deportations were scheduled on regular air services from London to Paris during this week, but none have been returned so far.
Officials now confront the possibility of additional legal challenges and setbacks. Sources indicated that at least five more people were earmarked for return this week.
Observers have compared the situation to the former administration’s Rwanda deportation plan, which encountered repeated court obstacles. But, unlike that scheme, the current challenges involve specific persons rather than the entire program.
Under the deal, signed in July by the UK leader and Emmanuel Macron, the UK committed to hold small boat migrants and send them back to France. In exchange, France would accept a similar number of asylum seekers with family ties in the UK.
The prime minister said at the time: “This isn’t a simple solution, but with a united effort, new tactics and a greater degree of intent, we can finally turn the tables.”
Recently, the judge who granted the temporary injunction explained that further investigation was needed to look into the man’s claim that he was a possible trafficking survivor.
The court was informed that the man and his mother had gone to Ethiopia when he was a young child, and that he was later taken illegally from there to Libya in 2023.
He said he had afterward made his way via Italy to France, and arrived in the UK by small boat on 12 August after his mother gave £1,000 to traffickers.
French officials has been planning to fly asylum seekers to the UK over the weekend as part of the reciprocal deal.
An official representative said: “The first migrants are still scheduled to come in France from the UK this week, and the initial departures from France will start on Saturday.”
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