Treaty to return Channel migrants not ‘silver bullet’

YVETTE Cooper has said the deal struck with France to return Channel migrants will not stop crossings on their own, as she refused to confirm how many would be returned by the scheme.

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The Home Secretary said the agreement, which began yesterday, was about the principle rather than the number itself.

Ms Cooper pointed to a similar accord between Greece and Turkey in 2016 which she said brought down numbers of migrants to Greece.

Migrants for the swap will begin to be detained from today, she told broadcasters. It is hoped the first migrants will be returned by the end of August. In exchange Britain will receive asylum seekers who have ties to the country through a legal route.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Cooper said: “We never claimed that there is a single silver bullet on this. So this goes alongside the 28% increase in returns of failed asylum seekers that we have brought in.