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As Sir Keir Starmer stood beside Emmanuel Macron to unveil a “groundbreaking” one in, one out migration deal, Independent readers were quick to react – and responses ranged from cautious hope to outright dismissal. Some saw the deal as a long-overdue return to grown-up diplomacy after years of standoffs and political posturing. Many welcomed the move away from the Conservatives’ costly Rwanda scheme, calling this new approach more pragmatic and rooted in cooperation. One reader praised Starmer for behaving like an “adult” on the world stage and for finally securing a deal that had eluded previous prime ministers.But doubts loomed large. Some readers questioned whether a plan sending back just 50 migrants a week could ever match the scale of the challenge.Several others argued the numbers simply didn’t add up, with hundreds still crossing each week, wondering whether this could become Labour’s version of Rwanda: expensive, ineffective and ultimately more symbolic than substantive.Naturally, many blamed Brexit for dismantling systems that once helped manage asylum claims. But others remained unconvinced by closer ties with the EU.There were calls for tougher deterrents, including offshore processing and biometric tracking, but also a reminder from some that, without tackling root causes or expanding legal routes, little would change.Here’s what you had to say:Positive, optimistic, and straight-talkingMacron will have made a lot of friends in the UK on this visit. He has been positive, optimistic and straight-talking, pulling no punches. We are now closer to France and Europe than we have been for many years, and the majority of the British people are in favour of that.Small boat crossings? Something, at last, is being done. The Rwanda scheme, brought to you by the likes of Suella Braverman, was a waste of time and loads of money. Cooperation between neighbours is much more sensible. Let’s see if it works, because the willingness is there. RegCostelloDo you think the Starmer–Macron migration deal will help reduce small boat crossings? Share your views in the comments.A deal, but not as we know itWell, it’s a deal I suppose, but as they say, not as we know it.There were far more important things discussed, and President Macron alluded to those at the press conference.But, of course, the elephant in the room was always Brexit. Macron was too polite and direct to say so explicitly, but his view was clear. The whole project was and is a disaster.If Brexit had not happened, then the small boats issue would not have risen on the British political agenda because the EU schemes we used to be members of no longer apply. Funny how the numbers mushroomed after 2018, eh?Did Brexit not teach this country’s politicians anything? Britain is just not that important on its own. For some reason, they still tread on eggshells because they still fear the people who inflicted this disaster on us. The public now has them rumbled. Time our politicians caught up. Brexit must be reversed. 49ninerStill embittered by BrexitFrance must be bloody awful, as so many seem desperate to leave for Brexit Britain. Macron is still embittered to this day by the UK public having the temerity to vote to withdraw from the EU project.He did raise one good point regarding the pull factor, but the chances of Starmer addressing this are zilch. Noverngit1A drop in the oceanMany are quite rightly saying that a few hundred arrive per week – weather permitting – so 50 being returned to France per week is a drop in the ocean. This is very true.However, between 80 and 100 per cent of applicants from Afghanistan, Turkey, Eritrea, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan, and those considered to be stateless (to mention a few of the principal countries) are accepted as genuine refugees. This means the overall number of refugees in the UK won’t be noticeably different unless the UK changes its policy.People also seem to forget that, no matter how bad many in the UK consider the conditions for refugees and those seeking asylum to be, for many of these people, it’s like heaven on earth compared to where they came from.No matter what Starmer and Macron come up with, it’s not likely to have much effect. There would need to be a concerted effort by those countries desperate to reduce the number of migrants they’re being forced to deal with, and the countries causing the non-stop flow of those desperate to get out.Maybe those countries – Europe taking the brunt of this – need to spend more energy and money tackling the root cause instead of throwing money at the result. Cutting foreign aid won’t have helped.Economic migrants, or anyone who isn’t prepared to reveal who he/she is, should be returned to where they came from or, if necessary, to a third country after being biometrically registered so no return with a new name is possible. This would mean European countries would have to co-operate, which would probably be the first challenge! AmbigirlsWrong sort of BrexitMacron is correct, we were sold a lie in 2016. But not just over migrants – over a long list of other broken promises and expectations.Not to be deterred, the likes of Farage have an excuse: evidently, it was the wrong sort of Brexit!On the BBC News tonight, Badenoch claimed the latest deal was not as good as the Rwanda scheme. The Rwanda scheme promised that 200 migrants would be returned in one year. Starmer’s deal starts at 50 a week. OK, not a big number, but 50 a week is 2,600 a year.tommy2topsA different level to StarmerI think Macron is being eminently reasonable. He is on a different level to Starmer.You can’t expect the French to bend over backwards to prevent migrants from departing their shores.Everyone has the right to claim asylum.Britain, as usual, is trying to claim exceptionalism.Cyclone8Turning the corner on dinghy crossingsA few more deals with Germany, Spain, Italy, etc, and we may be turning the corner on dinghy crossings. The ones we take can work and don’t need to stay in hotels.Tories can’t complain. Their Rwanda scheme, costing hundreds of millions, was meant to deal with six people per week. JustOneMoreThingSafe routeSensible deal, particularly the safe route opening on the French side.The Tories complain it’s only 50 a week, ignoring their Rwanda deal only allowed 300 in an entire year! Reform is panicking and hoping this doesn’t work – if it does, why vote for them?It certainly won’t be because they are the anti-establishment party, with the ranks filling with ex-Tory MPs!Hammerhead72More than the last three PMs achievedDespite the predictable stream of negativity about the impact of this, it is still one deal more than any of Starmer’s three predecessors reached.The pilot scheme may be able to return several thousand people per year, which is more than the Rwanda scheme would have managed.For all the Tory outrage about its abolition, this would only ever have removed a few hundred people a year.Tanaquil2A one in, one out policy has the potential to work. But only if every single person who tries to enter the UK by crossing the Channel in boats is returned to France.If this were to be done, they would very soon stop even trying, because of the cast-iron certainty that they will be returned to France, meaning that the money they are paying to the organised criminals for these boats is being wasted.This will also benefit France, as it will remove the pull factor that is drawing them to France solely to access the UK. MarkRemove the financial incentivesThe only thing that will make these crossings less attractive is removing financial incentives and/or processing applications in a third country. MedicineDogAn adult in the roomIsn’t it amazing what can be achieved by an adult PM speaking to the French President? Starting with Cameron through May, Johnson, Truss, particularly, and a little thaw with Sunak, there have been fifteen years of antagonism while expecting – no, demanding – cooperation. Now we have an adult PM, and there are results.Of course, there’s room for improvement, but it’s a start. Joining the European Union would improve things no end, as most now recognise. rEUjoinNothing has been achievedJust what exactly has been achieved? The boats will still keep on coming.Rejoin the EU – why? The so-called economic powerhouse countries, Germany and Franc,e are performing worse than ourselves. Anything else is just tinkering. Noverngit1Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.Want to share your views? Simply register your details below. Once registered, you can comment on the day’s top stories for a chance to be featured. Alternatively, click ‘log in’ or ‘register’ in the top right corner to sign in or sign up.Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment click here. More

Resident doctors’ 29 per cent pay demand is “non-negotiable”, the new leader of the British Medical Association has said, warning strikes could go on for years. Dr Tom Dolphin also claimed the demand is both reasonable and easily affordable for the NHS, as members gear up for five days of strikes later this month. But the government has ruled out negotiating with doctors on pay, with health secretary Wes Streeting accusing them of “squandering an opportunity by striking” instead of working with him to improve working conditions.“You will not find another health and social care secretary as sympathetic to resident doctors as me”, he said. But Dr Dolphin said the union will not negotiate on or accept a figure lower than 29 per cent because that is the extent of the real-terms loss of earnings doctors have seen since 2008 – a salary they want restored in full. Resident doctors from the British Medical Association have voted in favour of strike action (PA) More

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed a “groundbreaking” one in, one out migration deal – just hours after hundreds made the perilous journey across the English Channel to the UK.At the end of a historic three-day state visit by the French president, he and the prime minister announced a pilot scheme which could see around 50 illegal migrants arriving in small boats returned to France each week in exchange for asylum seekers being held there.But just hours earlier, around 220 people, including 70 in one boat, were brought to shore in Dover by Border Force officials.The deal is a personal victory for Sir Keir, who has vowed to “smash the gangs” that bring migrants to the UK, and said the agreement would “finally turn the tables” on the crisis.Starmer and Macron said the first-of-its-kind agreement would bring an end to the small boats crisis More

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have struck a landmark deal to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats. The “one-in, one-out” agreement will see some of those who arrive in the UK illegally via the Channel sent straight back for the first time since Brexit, with Britain taking an equivalent number of migrants from France in return. The deal came after days of talks between the prime minister and French president, with the small boats crisis dominating the agenda during Mr Macron’s state visit. Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed the migration deal More

Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron announce a migrant return deal with France intended to tackle illegal crossings over the Channel.The prime minister said the UK would tackle illegal migration with “new tactics” and a “new level of intent” before the pair held crunch talks to hammer out a deal.Sir Keir told a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron: “In exchange for every return, a different individual will be allowed to come here via a safe route, controlled and legal, subject to strict security checks and only open to those who have not tried to enter the UK illegally.“This will show others trying to make the same journey that it will be in vain, and the jobs they have been promised in the UK will no longer exist because of the nationwide crackdown we’re delivering on illegal working which is on a completely unprecedented scale.“The president and I have agreed that this pilot will be implemented in the coming weeks.” Before Sir Keir and Mr Macron were due to speak, the UK coastguard tackled “multiple incidents involving small boats” in the English Channel.UK Border Force vessels raced out on Thursday morning to intercept several small boats crossing the Channel, the coastguard said. More

A Reform councillor has been suspended from her job with an MP after being charged with assault following an incident at a Pride event. Mandy Clare, who worked in the office of Sarah Pochin, is due to appear in court on 8 August after being arrested at Winsford Pride on 28 June. She was charged with assault and criminal damage and was later released on bail. A spokesperson for Ms Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said the office has a “zero-tolerance policy” for “disorderly” conduct. Amanda Clare, from Malpas More

French president arrives for crunch migration talks with Starmer over ‘one in one out’ dealMigrants crossed the English Channel in small boats to Dover as Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron were in crunch talks over a deal on curbing their numbers.People wearing life jackets arrived in Kent and disembarked from a Border Force boat amid sunny weather on Thursday.Border Force vessels were sent in response to a number of boats on Thursday morning, according to HM coastguard.Earlier, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed there were 78 illegal migrants on a dinghy intercepted by the French navy.Under the deal being thrashed out by France and the UK during Emmanuel Macron’s state visit, up to 50 migrants a week could be sent back to France.The French president will round off his three-day state visit with a press conference with the prime minister in London at which they are expected to announce new plans to tackle the small-boat crossings. It’s understood the deal has not yet been finalised but a pilot scheme could start as early as next week, involving migrants being returned to France in exchange for those with genuine claims to be in the UK.Recap: Refugee campaigners attack new dealCampaigners for refugees warned the UK-France deal would drive migrants back into the hands of gangs.Asylum Matters executive director Louise Calvey said: “Another grubby trade in human lives will do nothing more than remove people from this country back into the hands of people-smugglers, back to French shores where they’ll face the escalating police violence that has been agreed alongside this deal- violence that will cost people their lives.”The only way to stop people from making dangerous journeys is to give them safe routes to seek sanctuary.”Alexander Butler10 July 2025 15:52Starmer and Macron presser delayed as world leaders discuss ‘coalition of the willing’There is a growing sense of impatience amongst the large group of British and French journalists waiting in a sweltering holding room next to the where Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are set to deliver a press conference in London.It is not yet clear when the presser – which has been hit by delays – will begin, but the two leaders are expected to unveil a new deal to return migrants to France if they arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel.The UK prime minister and French president are held up on a call with other world leaders to discuss the the “coalition of the willing” – a proposed peacekeeping force to support Ukraine.Millie Cooke10 July 2025 15:34‘Dark days lie ahead if migration not tackled,’ Chris Philp warnsDark days lie ahead if public concern about soaring migration is not addressed, the shadow home secretary has warned.Chris Philp has said legal and illegal migration is a serious challenge across the Western world, and that he had spoken to senior figures in Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party, who said “this is their last chance to fix this problem before extreme right wing parties take over”.“I think that should be a warning to all of us in mature Western democracies, that if we don’t fix this, extremely dark times could lie ahead,” Mr Philp added.Archie Mitchell10 July 2025 15:26Philp: Rwanda plan would have workedChris Philp has said the Tories’ Rwanda plan would have worked, had they just been given more time.The deportation scheme was announced by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel in April 2022, but was held up by legal complications until being scrapped by Labour after last year’s general election.In the years since the plan was made public, being championed by three prime ministers, just four volunteers were eventually sent to Rwanda at a cost of £700m to taxpayers.But, speaking to journalists on Thursday, the shadow home secretary said: “Keir Starmer must now be thinking, at least in the dark recesses of the night, that he made a catastrophic mistake by cancelling that just two or three weeks before it was due to start.”Archie Mitchell10 July 2025 15:21Asylum charity: Starmer’s ‘grubby deal’ will leave migrants at mercy of smugglersAn asylum charity has warned that Sir Keir Starmer’s “grubby” one-in, one-out deal with Emmanuel Macron will put asylum seekers back in the hands of people smugglers.Louise Calvey, executive director of Asylum Matters, said: “Another grubby trade in human lives will do nothing more than remove people from this country back into the hands of people smugglers, back to French shores where they’ll face the escalating police violence that has been agreed alongside this deal – violence that will cost people their lives.“We don’t need another expensive, ineffective, dangerous Rwanda-style gimmick. We don’t need more enforcement making journeys even more dangerous. It’s incredibly simple: the only way to stop people from making dangerous journeys is to give them safe routes to seek sanctuary.”Archie Mitchell10 July 2025 15:15European peacekeeping plans ‘ready to go’, says MacronEuropean plans for a peacekeeping force to aid Ukraine once the war ends are now “mature” after months of planning, Sir Keir Starmer said, with French President Emmanuel Macron describing them as “ready to go” once a ceasefire is agreed.Speaking during a call with allies who make up the so-called coalition of the willing, the Prime Minister said: “I am very pleased to say today that these plans are mature and we are putting them on a long-term footing.”New headquarters for the coalition of the willing are to be based in Paris, he added. Mr Macron told the gathered allies: “We have a plan that is ready to go and initiate in the hours after a ceasefire.”Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky joined the call from the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome alongside other allies.Also dialled in was Keith Kellogg, a retired US general and special presidential envoy to Ukraine, as well as Lindsey Graham, a Republican US senator mobilising sanctions against Russia and his Democrat colleague Richard Blumenthal.The coalition of the willing’s plans are dependent upon a US security guarantee. Mr Zelensky told the meeting that Ukraine needs the US “very much” because of its sanctions against Russia, as well as military support.Alexander Butler10 July 2025 14:49Recap: UK-France cooperation ‘never been stronger’, No 10 saysThe level of co-operation with France has “never been stronger”, Downing Street has said as Sir Keir Starmer seeks to hammer out a migration deal with Emmanuel Macron.A No 10 spokesman said he would not speculate on the details of a potential agreement and that “innovative” approaches and a “targeted international response” were needed to tackle illegal migration.“Our co-operation with France has never been stronger,” he said.Asked if Sir Keir Starmer still thinks the situation in the Channel is deteriorating, he said: “We’ve been consistently clear that the numbers are unacceptable.”He welcomed the “changing tactics” of French authorities in recent weeks.He continued: “Clearly, more work needs to be done, as I say, we will approach that, whether that is investing in border security command, whether that is working with our international allies. We’re clear that this is an international problem, cracking down on these gangs cannot be done singularly.”Alexander Butler10 July 2025 14:29In pictures: Latest migrant arrivals People thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel on Thursday More