Migrant deal will not change anything'

AN experienced French police major has told the Express he has no doubt Keir Starmer's "groundbreaking" deal with France to stop the boats will fail.

-  Zak Garner-Purkis

In June the Prime Minister and Emmanuel Macron used a Downing Street press conference to announce an "unprecedented" new agreement to tackle illegal migration.

But Major Nicolas Laroye, an illegal migration specialist based in Dunkirk and the main representative of the French police union, said the new measures would not deter those attempting to get to the UK.

He said: "It is going to be ineffective, it won't change anything. What we've done for years is make it harder for migrants and massively increase our equipment and manpower. But they have never stopped trying to come to Britain.

"I've been in the Border Force since 2008 and I've seen so many people try again and again because this is their El Dorado."

The deal's standout promise was a new pilot scheme that would see some of the migrants who had made the dangerous journey across the Channel returned to France.

Although it is due to affect only around 6% of the total coming by small boat, the two leaders emphasised the potential "deterrent effect" of the one in, one out arrangement.

However, Maj Laroye was sceptical, based on decades of catching migrants attempting to travel illegally to Britain.