The cost of sending migrants back to France under the UK's one-in, one-out deal has been revealed. The scheme introduced in August 2025 aims to prevent small boat crossings.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's deal allows the UK to return migrants who arrived illegally across the English Channel to France in exchange for admitting an equivalent number of refugees directly from France who have not attempted the crossing. The average cost of returning a migrant is £48,800, meaning one recent flight could have cost taxpayers up to £1.52 million, according to reports.
A recent plane departure from Stansted to Paris, as part of the nation's one-in-one-out deal with France, carried 32 male migrants, 73 guards and two paramedics.
According to analysis by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, the cost of enforced removals has increased from around £15,000 per person in the last decade, reports The Sun.
It includes case work, the cost of chartering planes and financial support for migrants once out of the UK. The UK must also cover the cost of transporting migrants to and from France under the one-in-one-out deal.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The one-in-one-out scheme is a failure.
“No wonder more illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel under Keir Starmer than any other prime minister.”
An HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published yesterday said the men on the flight to Paris in January had all been detained after arriving in the UK by small boat and were held in immigration removal centers.
The journey had more than two staff escorting each person, and the report also noted that on an earlier flight, three people had to be restrained with waist belts after “they demonstrated continuing resistance”.
However, Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said the Stansted-Paris flight went without a hitch.
The Home Office said: “Illegal migrants and foreign criminals are given escorts where risk assessments show they are needed.
“Since the 2024 election, the Government has saved close to £1billion in asylum costs and returned or deported nearly 60,000 people.”