You’d be forgiven for missing it.
asserted
You → forgive → it
Earlier this month, the government quietly scrapped its “one in, one out” deal with France.
asserted
government → scrap → France
The partnership was supposed to eliminate small boat crossings by deterring asylum seekers from making the treacherous journey across the world’s busiest shipping channel.
asserted
partnership → suppose → channel
The deal, which lasted just 423 days, was beset with problems, had a negligible impact, and now joins a long list of policies that have tried and failed to address highly visible, often tragic small boat crossings. This morning, the Home Office announced that it would be doubling the number of riot police along the French coast in lieu of the deal.
asserted
it → last → deal
Although small boat arrivals have actually decreased over the last year, the far right continues to weaponise these crossings.
asserted
right → decrease → crossings
In its annual threat briefing yesterday, the head of MI5 warned that extremists with anti-immigration opinions are increasingly considering carrying out terrorist attacks.
asserted
extremists → warn → attacks
Today’s newsletter speaks to specialist reporter Diane Taylor and Daniel Trilling, author of If We Tolerate This, to situate the deal’s collapse within the wider context of policies that have exacerbated the sense of disorder they’re supposed to resolve – and asks what comes next.
asserted
what → speak → disorder
That’s after the headlines.
asserted
That → ’ → headlines
Extremists holding anti-immigration opinions are becoming increasingly likely to consider carrying out terrorist attacks against immigration centres and asylum hotels, the head of MI5 has warned.
asserted
head → hold → MI5
Nigel Farage has denied that a Reform UK government would authorise lethal force against small boat crossings in the Channel.
asserted
government → deny → Channel
-
Ukraine | Andy Burnham will host Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Wednesday as the UK seeks to further underline its support for the Ukrainian president, in contrast to his difficulties with Donald Trump.
asserted
UK → host → Trump
Kimberly Guilfoyle is stepping down as US ambassador to Greece after weeks of reports that she sought payment from a Trump donor in exchange for access to administration officials.
asserted
she → step → officials
Pope Leo has lung cancer, the Vatican said late on Tuesday.
asserted
Vatican → have → Tuesday
Leo, 71, underwent an operation and had the lower lobe of his right lung removed, with tests confirming a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said.
asserted
Vatican → undergo → adenocarcinoma
In depth: ‘I’ve never seen as much suffering caused to refugees by government policy’
asserted
I → see → policy
The one in, one out policy that was announced in a joint press conference between Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron in July last year was supposed to render small boat crossings pointless.
asserted
crossings → announce → July
A person arriving in a small boat to the UK could be forcibly returned to France in exchange for another person who would be brought legally to the UK.
uncertain
who → arrive → UK
“In effect,” Diane Taylor wrote in a moving piece about the scheme in September, asylum seekers were “used as reluctant human shields to protect our borders from others in the same predicament.”
asserted
seekers → write → predicament
The scheme was always limited in scale; of the 40,000 people who arrived in small boats while it was active, just 1,500 – roughly 4% – were returned to France.
asserted
1,500 → arrive → France
A report by British Future, a thinktank that championed the policy, recognised that it would have to be expanded twenty-fold to close down routes as a viable way to claim asylum.
uncertain
it → champion → asylum
But it’s doubtful that, even at this far larger scale, it would have ever been effective.
asserted
it → ’ → scale
Diane reported in August that nearly 50 asylum seekers deported under the scheme returned to the UK a second time, and an unknown number arrived undetected.
asserted
number → report → UK
The government would have liked the scheme to continue, and its official explanation was that it was scrapped because it couldn’t be effectively scaled up.
asserted
it → like → ?
But it seems likely that political concerns in France also played a role.
asserted
concerns → seem → role
“At a time when immigration is going to be a major issue in the French presidential election, France doesn’t want to be seen to be taking in more unwanted people from the UK,” Rajeev Syal, the Guardian’s home affairs editor, tells me.
asserted
Syal → go → me
The other side of one in, one out
The deal was partially founded on a recognition of the need for safer routes to claim asylum in Britain.
uncertain
deal → found → Britain
Starmer acknowledged when announcing it that “it is right that we offer a haven to those in most dire need”.
asserted
we → acknowledge → need
But this flicker of humanitarianism was outweighed by the scheme’s arbitrary cruelty.
asserted
flicker → outweigh → cruelty
Nearly 100 children were misidentified as adults and wrongly detained under the scheme, while some asylum seekers deported back to France were beaten by people smugglers.
asserted
seekers → misidentifie → smugglers
“I’ve been writing about asylum seekers for 25 years and I’ve never seen as much suffering caused to refugees by a UK government policy,” says Diane.
asserted
Diane → write → policy
It was also accompanied by the government’s fortification of security measures along the French border.
asserted
It → accompany → border
To some extent, these security measures help to explain the drop in small boat crossings this year, together with an overall reduction in arrivals of asylum seekers to Europe.
asserted
measures → help → Europe
But they have also encouraged people to make even more unsafe crossings.
asserted
they → encourage → crossings
The increased police presence in northern France has led to more trips in larger “mega-dinghies”, which became a subject of panicked headlines this summer, as smugglers attempt to transport more people in single crossings.
asserted
smugglers → increase → crossings
Increased security has also encouraged people to take longer routes across the channel, sailing from Normandy and Belgium rather than Calais.
asserted
security → encourage → Calais
Earlier this summer, far-right protests spread to Portsmouth, where people arriving on small boats had sailed from Normandy.
asserted
people → spread → Normandy
“In effect, while the security measures seem on the surface to be working, they also contribute to boat journeys becoming far more dangerous, again adding to the sense of spectacle,” Daniel Trilling tells me.
asserted
Trilling → seem → me
Why are so many people still crossing in small boats?
asserted
people → cross → boats
The right frames small boat crossings as a failure to control immigration.
asserted
right → frame → immigration
Crucially, though, they’re a manifestation of ever-more draconian attempts to crack down on people trying to claim asylum in the UK.
uncertain
they → ’re → UK
…and 42 more, not listed.
The Aporia
