Migrants now 'commodities to be exchanged' after deal

PM criticised as Calais mayor warns small boats agreement will see more migrants 'flocking' to the north coast of France

- MILLIE COOKE POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of reducing migrants to “commodities to be exchanged” with his new “one in, one out” returns deal with France.

Under the deal, for each small boat migrant sent back across the English Channel, an asylum seeker will be allowed to enter the UK from France under a legal route, the prime minister announced alongside Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

But refugee charities and campaign groups have condemned the agreement, with the Migrants' Rights Network accusing the government of conceding to “racist far-right narratives”.

Meanwhile, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants warned that the deal, which comes alongside new plans to intercept boats trying to cross the Channel, “will put more people’s lives at risk and cause more death and injury”.

And the International Rescue Committee (IRC) - the aid charity run by ex-Labour cabinet minister David Miliband - dubbed the agreement “yet another step in the wrong direction”.

The criticism comes as the mayor of Calais warned the agreement would only draw more migrants to the north coast of France.

“Migrants are going to flock here, drawn by the attraction,” Natacha Bouchart said. “You get the impression that the national politicians do not give a hoot about the local politicians. We’re going to have to manage migrants who the British government will have chosen to return to France.”