'CAVE-IN' WILL FAIL TO STOP BOATS

KEIR Starmer has been accused of caving in to France over a migrants deal critics claim will fail to stop the small boats.

- By Martyn Brown

They blasted the "limp" agreement and said the Prime Minister had “bowed down” to French president Emmanuel Macron. The announcement came as around 600 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday.

And Mr Macron sparked outrage as he blamed Brexit for the Channel boats crisis.

The French leader heavily criticised the UK’s vote to leave the EU in 2016 as the two leaders unveiled their new returns agreement.

Sir Keir had already faced backlash for the deal after it emerged it would likely mean only around 50 migrants would be returned to France each week — a small fraction of the numbers crossing, which have reached 21,117 this year.

Staggeringly, yesterday’s arrival numbers would take three months to return to France.

Mr Macron, who blamed Brexit for making it harder to tackle illegal migration, insisted the measure would have a “deterrent effect” beyond the numbers actually returned.

Sir Keir said the “one in, one out” returns scheme will begin in weeks and will help “finally turn the tables” on the migrant crisis in the English Channel. He labelled it “groundbreaking” and warned those crossing that it meant “you will end up where you started”.