No surprise pact to stop migrants is having zero effect

WENT out with the Express on the English Channel this week on the day Labour's migrant deal started, to see for myself if it had made any difference. Within just 30 minutes of arriving off the French coast, I saw two dinghies rammed full of illegal immigrants being ushered by into UK waters.

- By Chris Philp SHADOW HOME SECRETARY

The deal was clearly having no deterrent effect whatsoever on the brazen migrants — almost all of whom were young men.

The French ships nearby did nothing to stop the crossings and, in fact, ushered the huge dinghies towards Britain.

And it got worse. At the handover to UK Border Force, who then taxied the illegal immigrants into Dover, we caught the French captain on the ship radio arranging to collect used life jackets — apparently to recycle them to help more in the future.

The people-smuggling conveyor belt is now a round trip, paid for by British taxpayers. Labour’s migrant deal with France is in shambles and it has already been proven to have no deterrent effect whatsoever.

Clause after clause in the deal provides get-outs to allow migrants to avoid removal by claiming to be under 18, or by lodging made-up modern slavery or human rights claims. It’s likely attempts to return migrants will become bogged down in an endless legal quagmire.