Small Boats, Big Stakes: Options for a UK-EU deal on migration and asylum
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Highlights
Small boat crossings to the United Kingdom have surged since 2018; a post-Brexit readmissions deal with the EU, paired with managed pathways, could help address them.
- Small boat crossings have increased sharply since 2018, partly because the United Kingdom lost access to the Dublin system after Brexit and can no longer return asylum seekers to their first EU country of entry.
- A UK-France or UK-EU readmissions deal is feasible but complex: the United Kingdom lacks Eurodac access, legal safeguards must be observed, and a bilateral deal could shift routes toward Belgium.
- To deter crossings and share responsibility, the United Kingdom and France could establish multipurpose screening hubs modeled on Safe Mobility Offices, offering managed pathways for people with UK ties or likely protection claims.
- The United Kingdom should also support EU Solidarity Pool relocations, fund charter flights for third-country returns, and test a “Eurodac-lite” bilateral screening tool with French liaison officers.
When it left the European Union, the United Kingdom exited the EU system for determining which country is responsible for which asylum seekers. This change has been one of several factors behind burgeoning numbers of people attempting to reach UK shores in small boats, an increasing number dying in the process.
To make progress on the small boats issue, the UK government has prioritised improving relations with EU governments. The United Kingdom and France have taken steps to reduce departures from French beaches and to intercept boats shortly after their launch, but the real prize would be a readmissions deal with either France, a small number of EU Member States, or the European Union as a whole.
This policy brief explores the challenge at hand, including why small boat arrivals have surged in recent years and what is known about the people who cross. It then analyses how a readmissions deal could work, given the legal constraints that both sides are operating within, and it identifies steps that could help make a deal politically viable and impactful in practice. Among them: Creating multipurpose hubs across France that would screen people for lawful pathways to the United Kingdom.
Sommaire général
Pour lire le sommaire général du policy brief en français, cliquez ici.
Table of contents
1 Introduction
2 Who Crosses the Channel and Why?
3 Options for Cooperation
A. Designing a readmissions deal
B. Showing solidarity in return for readmissions
4 Conclusion
About the Global Program
The Global Program bridges policy advice, research, and candid dialogue to design effective migration policies, drawing on global evidence and anticipating the forces reshaping how people move.
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