No.10 'confident' UK migrant return deal complies with law

BRITAIN'S migrant return deal with France is “robust” against legal challenge, Downing Street said, as the EU suggested it is assessing whether the agreement complies with “the spirit and letter of the law”.

- NINA LLOYD AND CHRIS McKEON

The UK has said it expects Brussels to approve the pact, while a spokesman for the European Commission indicated it wanted to know more about the “substance and form” of the arrangement before offering support.

The one-in-one-out migrant return scheme set out by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron is due to begin within weeks, but still needs final legal verification and consultation with the bloc.

Asked whether or not the UK Government was concerned about the scheme potentially being held up in the courts, a No.10 spokesman said: “We've done a lot of work to make sure the system is robust to legal challenges, and of course, France is a safe country and a member of the ECHR.

“We're confident that this arrangement complies with both domestic and international law, and... we've discussed these arrangements with the [European] Commission.”

The Prime Minister was holding talks with his Cabinet at an “away day” at Chequers, his grace-and-favour country estate, yesterday after securing the agreement on Thursday.

Ministers expect the EU to support the arrangement, Downing Street said, amid concerns among some European governments that migrants who have travelled to Britain could end up back on their territory.

But asked whether or not the scheme would be endorsed, a spokesman for the commission said yesterday: “On the specific envisaged cooperation between France and the United Kingdom, the commission will assess the concrete modalities of this cooperation.