Border Force deploys in Channel as small boats spotted - Cooper refuses to put number on migrant returns

 Migrants arrive in Dover - hours after PM agrees returns deal with Macron

The Border Force and the RNLI have been deployed in the English Channel this morning as small boats have been spotted trying to come to the UK.

The first Border Force boat carrying migrants has arrived at Dover, and more vessels are out at sea.

The attempted crossings come just hours after Sir Keir Starmer stood along French President Emmanuel Macron to announce a deal to crack down on small boat crossings.

They unveiled a "one in, one out" scheme that will see people who cross the Channel returned to France each week in exchange for the same number of asylum seekers who have been accepted to come to the UK.

The scheme has not yet started - it still needs final legal verification and consultation with the European Union, but is due to begin within weeks.

Migrant returns scheme is 'not groundbreaking - it is a gimmick', says top Tory

We've just been speaking with the shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, about the government's new pilot scheme to return migrants who crossed the Channel illegally to France, in exchange for one who has not attempted the journey and has a valid asylum claim.

The home secretary described the deal as "groundbreaking", but Philp told Sky's Anna Jones: "I'm afraid it's not groundbreaking - it is a gimmick, just like his absurd claim a year ago to be smashing the gangs, which has totally failed.

"We've seen record ever numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel so far this year under Labour."

The issue, as he sees it, is that it is reported that only 50 people per week will be returned to France under this pilot scheme - although the government has said they plan to ramp up numbers once the plan is proven.

Philp said: "If 94% of illegal immigrants arrive and get to stay here, there's going to be no deterrent effect whatsoever. So it's not going to work."

By contrast, he argued that Australia has already proven that immediately deporting all arrivals on small boats deals with the problem, and he said the Tories' Rwanda scheme would have had the same effect (of course, the scheme never got off the ground before the general election).

"It worked in Australia, it would have worked here, but Starmer cancelled it," Philp said.

Anna pointed out that the Tories' never sent anyone to Rwanda, so 50 per week will be more than they managed to deport, and he replied that the scheme was "ready to start just after the election".

Did Macron have a point about Brexit? We asked the home secretary for her view

The French president caused quite the stir yesterday by saying the British people were sold a "lie" by Brexiteers, and that leaving the EU had made tackling illegal immigration harder.

Sky's Anna Jones asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper if Emmanuel Macron has a point, and she replied: "I think what I've seen happen is that the way that the criminal smuggler gangs operate is that they will weaponise anything that is happening.

"And so what we saw in the run-up to Brexit being implemented was we saw criminal gangs promising people that they had to cross quickly, and they had to pay money to the smuggler gangs quickly in order to be able to cross in time before Brexit happened.

"As soon as Brexit happened, they then said 'Oh, well, now you've got to pay us money, because this means you can't be returned because the Dublin Agreement isn't in place'.

"So the thing about the criminal smuggler gangs is whatever arrangements are in place, they will use them in order to make money, but that's why we have to be fundamentally undermining their model."

Home secretary refuses to say how many migrants will be returned to France in returns deal

We've just been speaking with the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, hours after the PM agreed a deal with France to begin a pilot scheme to return migrants who cross the Channel illegally to France.

Sky's Anna Jones started by asking how many migrants will be returned under the 'one in, one out' scheme, and Cooper replied: "As you rightly say, it is a pilot, and we haven't fixed the ultimate numbers for the pilot or for the progress that we will make."

She said it is "right we do this in a step by step way, and we trial this and we develop it".

It has been reported that 50 migrants initially will be returned per week - but she would not confirm that.

Instead, she said the government will "provide updates throughout".

Cooper was also keen to point out that this scheme will operate alongside more intensive French tactics on the beaches and in the shallow waters of northern France, which she described as a "groundbreaking change".

Anna pushed the home secretary repeatedly for a rough idea of how many people she expects to be returned under the scheme, or what their goals are, but she declined to say.

"What people want is for us to fix numbers in advance," she said. "What we want to do instead is to build this up step by step.

"I think that's the right approach, because we're going to make sure that this works, and we're going to make sure that we can increase it."

Cooper also argued that this returns scheme is not just about the numbers returned - it will "undermine the business model of people smugglers" because their potential customers will know that they could pay thousands to get on a small boat, only to be returned to France.

She added: "We've said throughout there is no single silver bullet. So this comes alongside the change in the [French] maritime review, the maritime tactics that France are operating.

"It also comes alongside the UK doing a much stronger crackdown on illegal working.

"It's been too easy to work illegally in the UK for a long time. Rolling out digital ID for non-UK citizens and also the work to prevent things with law enforcement, stronger law enforcement as well."

Anna also asked how confident she is the scheme will get legal and EU approval, and she said she and the French interior minister have been discussing this approach since October last year, and they have been talking to EU commissioners throughout.

"We've found the EU commissioners have been very helpful and supportive. And that is why you heard yesterday, the prime minister and the president say, with that strength and conviction, that they expect this to be in place in a matter of weeks."

UK-France returns deal: What we know (and don't) so far

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron announced a pilot scheme to return migrants who cross the Channel illegally to France.

We've had no confirmation on how many people will be sent back to France, but Sky News understands that the government expects around 50 people per week will be returned when the programme starts.

The deal is subject to sign off from European lawyers before it starts.

In terms of the "how", people who cross the Channel will be detained and have their details taken. Those picked for the pilot will be kept in detention, told their claim for asylum is inadmissible, and sent back to France.

There will be a way for people to appeal this, but cases will get reviewed.

When someone is sent back to France, a person with an asylum claim deemed to be legitimate - who has not crossed by small boat before - will be sent the other way.

The costs for the pilot will come from existing Home Office budgets.

It's not clear how long the pilot will last, but it will be kept under ongoing review.

Border Force and RNLI deploy in Channel as small boats spotted - hours after PM agreed deal with Macron

The Border Force and the RNLI have been deployed in the English Channel this morning as small boats have been spotted trying to come to the UK.

The first Border Force boat carrying migrants has arrived at Dover, and more vessels are out at sea.

The attempted crossings come just hours after Sir Keir Starmer stood along French President Emmanuel Macron to announce a deal to crack down on small boat crossings.

They unveiled a "one in, one out" scheme that will see people who cross the Channel returned to France each week in exchange for the same number of asylum seekers who have been accepted to come to the UK.

The scheme has not yet started - it still needs final legal verification and consultation with the European Union, but is due to begin within weeks.

UK economy shrank in May - the second month in a row

The UK economy shrank in May even after the worst of US President Donald Trump's tariffs were paused, according to new official figures from the Office for National Statistics.

A standard measure of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), contracted 0.1% in May, according to the ONS.

Services grew by 0.1% while production and construction both fell, by -0.9% and -0.6% respectively.

In June, ONS figures for April showed the economy shrank by 0.3% that month - a contraction blamed on the financial uncertainty caused by Trump's tariffs.

April also saw a number of bill rises for businesses and households. There was a hike in national insurance contributions and the minimum wage, as well as a rise in council tax, car tax, energy, water and broadband bills.

Overall, however, the economy grew by 0.5% in the three months to May.

Home secretary launches crackdown on illegal working after PM agrees deal with France

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has launched a "nationwide blitz" to crack down on migrants working illegally, as part of the government's bid to reduce the factors attracting people to the UK.

Ministers hope that by tackling the "pull factors" leading to thousands trying to cross the Channel, fewer will want to make the journey.

Tackling those factors is something that French president Emmanuel Macron has demanded to go alongside the "one in, one out" pilot scheme he agreed with Sir Keir Starmer. It will see around 50 people who cross the Channel returned to France each week in exchange for the same number of asylum seekers who have been accepted to come to the UK.

The home secretary said in a statement: "This new pilot agreement with France is extremely important and allows us for the first time to return people who have paid to travel here illegally, and will sit alongside our wider joint enforcement action, including disrupting supply chains to seize boats and engines, shutting down social media accounts, and targeting finances.

"Since last summer, we have returned over 30,000 people with no right to be in the UK and a major surge in immigration enforcement activity, with a 51% increase in the number of illegal working arrests."

The "one in, one out" migrant return scheme still needs final legal verification and consultation with the European Union, but  is due to begin within weeks.

No details have been given about how many people will be covered by the pilot, but reports from France have indicated it could initially be limited to around 50 a week - a small fraction of the weekly average this year of 782.

The PM acknowledged at a news conference alongside the French president that the scheme was not a "silver bullet", but that it would mean "for the very first time" migrants arriving on small boats faced being sent back to France.

It will "show others trying to make the same journey that it will be in vain" and represents "a real breakthrough in the way that we tackle the vile trade of people-smuggling", Starmer said.

Mr Macron has repeatedly stressed the need for the UK to avoid attracting migrants, saying "you should not underestimate the impact the situation has" in parts of northern France around Calais and Dunkirk.

He said a third of migrants entering Europe's Schengen border-free area sought to eventually reach the UK and welcomed measures to tackle illegal work.

-SKY NEWS