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Keir Starmer warned of 'selling UK down the river' with France migrant deal
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Jun 27, 2025
Ex-Director General of UK Border Force Tony Smith has cast huge doubt over plans for a new deal with France, claiming he has "no confidence in any deal" done to tackle the migrant crisis.Speaking to GB News, Smith told host Martin Daubney that he has a "sense of depression hanging" over him, and warned Labour of "selling themselves down the river".FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
So, one in, one out
0:02
That basically means anybody who comes here illegally, we can kick out, but we have to take an asylum seeker in return
0:08
I put it to you, this is the worst plan in history. What we want is non-in and all-out
0:15
Afternoon, Martin. Yeah, I mean, I suppose I should be running round the room punching the air that we've got a result here, Martin
0:20
because I've spent a lot of my career trying to do a deal with the French on asylum returns, and ever since the boat started, I've been advocating save thirds
0:27
but we've never got one before. and uh this isn't new i mean we've had this before where we do some kind of deal with them
0:35
it's always gone wrong martin i'm afraid i'm not confident in any deal of course we haven't seen
0:41
the detail yet i may be doing him a disservice but my worry martin is that you know we've got
0:47
this big summit coming up this week there's desperate political pressure upon them to come
0:51
up with some kind of an announcement because they're getting beaten up all over the place so
0:54
So we might just end up selling ourselves down the river here. There are a lot of people in France that would quite like to come here
1:01
that can't come here, right? They're unqualified to come here. They already are family reunification routes
1:06
so let's forget about that. I think we must be saying that we're going to offer them some kind of carrot where a lot of people that can't come here now
1:12
are going to be allowed in. That really, really worries me because we've got quite enough people
1:16
coming in as it is. As for the returns, Mike, I don't even know how that's going to work. I mean, how's that going to work then
1:20
Are we going to be able to put them on a Border Force vessel and sail them straight back into Calais
1:24
Well, all of them. Straight away. Or what happens when the lawyers get involved when they're in our waters
1:29
Or what happens if we bring them ashore in Dover? Are there going to be exceptions? Women, kids, all of these things, Martin, are going round in my head
1:35
So I'm afraid I'm not running round punching the air. In fact, I've got a sense of that depression hanging over me
1:41
waiting to see what exactly it is that we've done here. But I am a little bit worried that we might be actually
1:46
making things worse than better. I just hope I'm wrong. I think you have every right to be cynical I mean let face it every illegal immigrant that made it to our shores as already a failure of the French to stop them coming across and we paying half a billion quid a year for the merit of that So we paying
2:02
half a billion quid and when the French can't do their job, only then
2:06
can we return them, but even if we do that, we've got to take an asylum seeker
2:10
back. I put it to you, who's doing these deals? They shouldn't be allowed
2:15
anywhere near a deal-making tarot, but they're incompetent. Yeah, I agree with you, I don't know
2:20
Martin who's doing it right now I do know the guys that used to do it back in the day but they
2:24
all retired now so I don't actually know who's doing it but I mean our negotiating records not
2:29
been great has it Martin you report on this regularly but you reported on other stories
2:33
more up your street than mine but I mean the Shagos Islands that didn't go too well I mean
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the fishing that ain't gone too well I mean every single time we've been promised and the e-gates I
2:43
do know about that that was a complete con Martin there's been no deal with them on e-gates at all
2:48
They made that up and they put ministers out on media rounds trying to convince poor old tourists at Stansted
2:53
Oh, don't worry, it's all going to be hunky-dory. It's not. It's going to get worse getting into the EU when they bring in the fingerprint in in October
2:59
So there is spin going on, spin galore, Martin. It's just guys like you have got to keep doing what you do and exposing this
3:07
And so, well, wait a minute. What exactly is going on here? I don't even know what's going on here
3:11
I'm really looking forward to the announcement on Monday, but I am not optimistic, I'm afraid
3:15
if we haven't been able to get a deal all these years now. What is it that suddenly happened, Martin
3:20
Suddenly, right now, with this government and this negotiating team, and we've got this fantastic new agreement
3:24
what's in it for the French? Why would they suddenly start saying, oh, that's all right, then we'll take the boat people back
3:29
when they haven't for the last eight years. And even before that, I can tell you, even when I was doing it with the lorry drops
3:34
they weren't taking them back then either. And we haven't had a deal with the French since the gentleman's agreement back in the 90s
3:39
and that didn't apply to us. So I'm sorry, I'm going on a bit, Martin, but I'm a little bit worried about this
3:44
I really am. I want to see the detail of it and no doubt I'll come and have a chat with you when I see it but I'm not as we speak optimistic
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