EU rejects British request to discuss deal to send migrants back to Europe - despite more Channel deaths
15 August 2023, 07:51
The EU has refused to discuss a new migrant deal with Rishi Sunak that would have allowed the UK to send back people to the continent.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
It was hoped it could form part of the plan to stop the small boat crossings, which have seen 100,000 people cross the Channel since records started in 2018 despite the risk of death.
Six people died attempting to take the route on Saturday, while some 100 people in just two dinghies had to be saved by Border Force on Monday.
French president Emmanuel Macron has told the UK to negotiate with the EU, and the bloc's commission president Ursula von der Leyen backed his call for a new partnership with the EU's border agency, Frontex, at a summit in Iceland in May.
However, notes from a meeting between her head of cabinet, Bjoern Seibert, and Sir Tim Barrow, the UK's national security adviser, showed the commission was not ready to draw up a returns agreement.
The notes have been circulated between government departments, according to The Times, but the European Commission says Seibert has no recollection of rejecting the proposal.
Labour has promised to thrash out an agreement with the EU on migrants but there is concern tensions between member states on the subject could hamper any attempt to do so.
A government source said: "The EU can’t even agree a migration deal between themselves so it's no surprise they aren't willing to discuss a readmissions agreement with the UK.
"The idea that this is the panacea to solving the small boats crisis is some way short of the mark. Labour need to get real. We need a deterrent."
The bloc is struggling to replace the Dublin convention, a readmissions mechanism the UK left after Brexit.
Plans to have member states take in a minimum amount of migrants or pay for those they don't allow in have stalled.
In 2020, the UK tried to sent back more than 8,000 migrants to the bloc only to have 105 accepted. It took in 882 migrants from the EU.
The bloc's refusal to open talks is another blow to Sunak, who has made stopping the boats a key policy ahead of the next election but has seen the controversial Rwanda deal stall in the courts.
Meanwhile, plans to move migrants out of hotels and into accommodation that should cost less were criticised as legionella bacteria was found on the Bibby Stockholm barge, forcing the government to take the migrants off the vessel last week.
They are set to be moved back on once test come back negative.
