'One in, one out' deal costs £56k per migrant, says home secretary
Shabana Mahmood defended the cost to the home affairs select committee
The government’s “one in, one out” deal is costing around £56,000 for every migrant sent back to France, the home secretary has told MPs.
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Shabana Mahmood revealed the figure as she was questioned by the home affairs select committee over whether the scheme was delivering value for taxpayers.
Approximately 1,400 people have been removed to France by the Home Office since the scheme began in August 2025, although some have subsequently returned to the UK.
Asked how much each return had cost, Ms Mahmood said: “I think per person for the numbers that have been returned so far, it’s about £56,000.”
She added she would write to the committee to confirm the figure.
The home secretary went on to defend the cost, saying it was “still cheaper, or just about the same as supporting someone in a hotel for a year”.
Read more: Drop in demand from migrants among key factors in small boat crossings reduction
The newly disclosed figure is higher than the Home Office's estimated average cost for enforced migrant returns of £48,800.
The deal, introduced in August 2025, permits the UK to return some small boat arrivals while agreeing to take in the same number of people from France believed to have a legitimate claim to come to Britain.
Asked by the Tory MP Robbie Moore whether she thought the scheme had been a success, Ms Mahmood said: "On its own terms, can you prove the concept that such a deal is viable, that you can get returns off and up and running - yes.
"It's not been without its challenges, obviously. The numbers are still relatively small.
"What has been more operationally difficult is to scale up very large numbers of removals every week into the French system."
The agreement - which was due to end in June 2026 but has now been extended to October - aims to deter people from making the dangerous journey across the Channel.
France wants the bilateral agreement to be replaced eventually by a broader EU-UK returns deal.
But Ms Mahmood dismissed claims that an EU-wide scheme would be a “silver bullet” for the Channel crisis.
She said the one-in, one-out arrangement had already returned more migrants than the UK managed under the EU’s former Dublin rules.
“It is a real mistake to think that that pact is the future, and that if we were in it this problem would go away - because I promise you, it would not,” she said.
Ms Mahmood added that the UN had reported some migrants were avoiding small-boat crossings because they believed they might be accepted through the one-in, one-out scheme.
So far this year, 17,425 people have arrived in the UK by small boat - down 44% on the same point last year.