UK says its pilot ‘one in, one out’ deal with France to curb Channel crossings is scrapped

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Britain’s government says a pilot program between the U.K. and France aimed at curbing the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped.

The Home Office said in a statement Wednesday that the so-called “one in, one out” deal is “no longer processing new cases.”

Under the plan, people who arrived in the U.K. after making the crossing across the Channel could be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who applied through a safe and legal route.

The Home Office said some 1,500 individuals have returned to France under the arrangement, while a tad fewer have been transferred to the U.K.

The program was intended to last three years but had a clause allowing the parties to end it earlier. Although the scheme is no longer active, the Home Office said deportation flights will continue in the coming weeks for people who have already been detained.

The Home Office said Britain is continuing to work with France to tackle small boat crossings and that it has “made real progress.”

The government’s statement came with the number of crossings in 2026 down sharply compared with last year, reaching a five-year low. The Home Office said that so far this year around 19,000 people have made the crossing, down about 40% on the same time last year, with police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France among the contributing factors.

The dangers of the crossings were highlighted Monday when a 10-year-old child and two women died, apparently trampled to death on a boat packed with more than 100 people.