Politics

Starmer’s Big Migrant Plan in Chaos as EU Steps In Before Macron Arrives

Published on July 7, 2025

Just as French President Emmanuel Macron prepares for his high-profile state visit to the UK this week, a major immigration deal that was meant to be the centrepiece of the occasion is already teetering on the edge of collapse.

The proposed scheme was meant to see some asylum seekers who arrived in Britain via small boats sent back to France, in a mutual effort to tackle the migrant crisis head-on. But according to the Daily Mail, the entire plan’s now hanging in the balance thanks to last-minute pushback from Brussels.

Speaking to the Mail, policing minister Chris Philp didn’t mince his words.

“Yet again, it looks like we are gearing up for another international humiliation for the PM.

If he can’t even get a scheme where we pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais for a migrant merry-go-round where the same number still come here, what hope do we have.

He needs to get a grip. Unless all those arriving by small boat are sent back to France, we won’t stop the crossings.”

The idea behind the deal was relatively simple on paper: Britain would agree to take in a portion of asylum seekers from a French processing centre, and in return, France would take back a similar number of those arriving illegally by small boat across the Channel. But as is often the case in politics, the execution looks far less straightforward.

Sir Keir Starmer had reportedly hoped to announce this breakthrough during a UK-France summit on Thursday, part of Macron’s long-awaited state visit that kicks off Tuesday. It would’ve been a tidy way for Starmer to underscore a new era of diplomacy — one where Britain and France stand united on shared challenges like illegal migration.

The Home Office had even prepped a pilot programme to launch later this year. But according to senior government insiders, those plans have now been well and truly knocked off course after the EU intervened.

While it’s not yet clear what exact objections have been raised, EU interference has thrown a massive spanner in the works — raising doubts about whether any migrant returns to France will be allowed under current agreements. And with Macron under pressure at home from both sides of the political aisle, it’s unlikely he’ll push ahead without EU support.

This isn’t the first time a cross-Channel cooperation effort has hit a brick wall. Last year, the UK agreed to give France £480 million over three years to bolster security and stop boat crossings, but results have been mixed at best.

With Macron’s visit just around the corner, Downing Street’s now scrambling to salvage the announcement. But with Brussels now in the driver’s seat, hopes for a big diplomatic win may already be slipping away.

For Rishi Sunak, who’s already facing criticism over his handling of illegal migration, this latest setback risks turning a potentially triumphant moment of diplomacy into another very public embarrassment.

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