Returns to start within days in 'one in, one out' deal with France

The UK will begin detaining people who arrive on small boats and returning some to France "within days" after the EU gave the green light to a deal signed with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

- Jessica Elgot

The treaty between France and the UK will allow the Home Office to begin sending some asylum seekers back across the Channel for the first time, in exchange for accepting others directly from France via a safe route, in what has been dubbed a "one in, one out" scheme.

Those who have crossed the Channel using small boats will become inadmissible for safe routes, according to the terms of the treaty. About 50 people a week are expected to be returned during the pilot scheme.