The Home Office has spent just £15,000 on a deterrent campaign to warn migrants about the “one-in, one-out” returns deal with France, GB News can reveal.
According to a Freedom of Information request by The People's Channel, Labour has spent a total of £14,692 on the creation and distribution of physical and digital adverts which warn migrants they will be deported if they attempt to cross the English Channel illegally.
Leaflets, posters, billboards and digital ads on YouTube and Facebook have all been used in the advertising blitz, appearing on would-be asylum seekers’ accounts should they meet certain criteria.
It is understood the Home Office ads, which required the approval of the French government, target users based on location, and demographics such as gender and nationality.
One advert seen by The People’s Channel shows a man being escorted onto a plane by officers in high-vis jackets and reads in English and French: “YOU NOW FACE BEING DETAINED AND RETURNED TO FRANCE IF YOU ARRIVE IN THE UK ON A SMALL BOAT.”
This broadcaster understands that the nearly £15,000 figure is equivalent to how much three asylum seekers would pay to people smugglers to help them make the perilous journey to Dover.
GB News can reveal that just £8,897 of the £14,692 was spent on the physical ad campaign between the inception of the campaign and the date of GB News’ request on September 9 - just days after Yvette Cooper was replaced by Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary in Sir Keir Starmer’s mini-reshuffle.
Speaking to this broadcaster about the data, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp took aim at the “paltry” amount spent.
One advert seen by The People’s Channel shows a man being escorted onto a plane by officers in high-vis jackets
|HOME OFFICE
Mr Philp said: “This so-called ‘one-in, one-out’ deal is having no deterrent effect whatsoever.
“Since it was announced, well over 15,000 people have crossed the English Channel, yet only 42 have been sent back to France.
“Quite clearly, if you have an almost 100 per cent chance of staying and pretty much a one per cent chance or less than one per cent chance of getting returned to France, that is not going to be a deterrent at all.
“That is why the numbers are continuing to flood in record numbers of illegal immigrants entering the United Kingdom this year.
“So far, the first nine months of this year have been the worst in history because Keir Starmer's first gimmick to smash the gangs didn't work.
“And now his second gimmick, this so-called ‘one-in, one-out’ deal isn't working either.
“To compound that, GB News has uncovered the fact they've spent pretty much no money. A paltry £15,000 on advertising the returns programme.
“So it's no surprise at all that there is no deterrent effect whatsoever.”
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Chris Philp told GB News that the ‘one-in, one-out’ deal is having 'no deterrent effect whatsoever'
|PA
GB News understands that the ad campaign’s focus is to raise awareness among migrants of the consequences of entering the UK illegally by small boat.
The People’s Channel also understands that the campaign’s rollout has been informed by several pieces of information, including migrant routes and common spoken languages.
The FOI revealed just 2,100 leaflets - printed in English, French, Arabic, Tigrinya, Pashto, Farsi, Somali, Vietnamese and Kurdish-Sorani - and 90 physical posters in English and French have been printed.
In addition, 114 printed billboards and 13 digital billboards have been used.
GB News' FOI revealed just 2,100 leaflets, 90 physical posters, 114 printed billboards, and 13 digital billboards have been used to advertise the Home Secretary's scheme
|PA
Tony Smith, former Director General of the UK Border Force, told GB News he doesn’t believe migrants will even read the information provided by the physical campaign.
He said: “I'm not convinced that leaflet dropping in northern France is going to be effective because I'm not sure that very many people are going to read them or believe them.
“Seeing is believing. I do think [Labour] needs to look at its communication strategy.
“We've seen evidence of this in the US and some evidence here that cameras have been allowed to film people being put on planes.
“But I think they need a much more concerted effort if this is going to work.
“And that is to show people coming off boats, as we get pictures of now in Calais and then being instantly detained and very quickly deported from the country, and those are the sorts of images that are more likely to have an impact upon the smugglers' business model than I think leaflet dropping in northern France.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The People’s Channel understands the ad campaign’s rollout has been informed by several pieces of information, including migrant routes and common spoken languages
|PA
The comments come just days after one failed asylum seeker who was sent back to France under the ‘one-in, one-out’ deal returned to the UK.
The illegal migrant said France was not safe for him and claims to be a victim of modern slavery in northern France.
“If I had felt that France was safe for me I would never have returned to the UK,” the man told the Guardian.
He added that when “we returned to France we were taken to a shelter in Paris”.
“I didn't dare to go out because I was afraid for my life. The smugglers are very dangerous.”
Despite the one-in, one-out deal beginning in July, it is not clear when the physical ad campaign began although first reporting of posters came in early August.
The People’s Channel can also reveal the amount spent on the Home Office’s digital campaign, including advertising channels, outdoor digital billboards and digital channels.
To the date of GB News’ request, digital adverts were shown 143,717 times and cost £5,795.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
To the date of GB News’ request, digital adverts were shown to migrants in northern France a total of 143,717 times and cost £5,795
|UK GOVERNMENT/HOME OFFICE
However, Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, points out that views do not mean migrants are engaging with the material.
Mr Bates said: “Conversion rates with these kinds of things are always infinitesimally small.
“Less than 10 per cent actually even stop to really engage with it.
“And then a smaller percentage still actually then take any sort of direction from what is being said to them.”
The Home Office has used digital advertising in the past to warn potential migrants about returns agreements, which is understood to have led to a significant decline in arrivals.
In the last two years, the Home Office spent £430,000 on advertisements in Vietnam and £134,000 in Albania in 2023.
GB News revealed this week that the number of migrants arriving illegally by small boat has passed the total for the whole of last year
|PA
On Wednesday, GB News revealed the number of migrants arriving illegally by small boat has passed the total for the whole of last year.
After 220 migrants crossed around midday on October 22, the total number of arrivals so far this year came to 36,956.
The figure is 70 higher than the 36,816 migrants who crossed the Channel illegally during the whole of 2024.
Responding to the data, a Home Office spokesman told GB News: “We will stop at nothing to break the business model of vile people smuggling gangs and to ensure migrants are not deceived by their lies.
“These adverts make clear that anyone entering the UK illegally by small boat risks being detained immediately and returned under the UK-France treaty.”
In a statement on the small boat crisis and the passing of the latest milestone, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The previous Government left our borders in crisis, and we are still living with the consequences.
“These figures are shameful – the British people deserve better.“This Government is taking action. We have detained and removed more than 35,000 who were here illegally.
“Our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
“But it is clear we must go further and faster – removing more of those here illegally, and stopping migrants from making small boat crossings in the first place.
“And I have been clear: I will do whatever it takes to restore order to our border.”
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