A former UK Border Force director has revealed that returning migrants to France was virtually impossible even during Britain's EU membership, challenging widespread assumptions about Brexit's role in the current Channel crossing crisis.
Tony Smith, who led border operations during a period of the UK's time in the European Union, disclosed to GB News that attempts to send migrants back to France under the Dublin Convention yielded minimal results.
"When we were in the EU, I worked on the Dublin Convention and we hardly ever returned anybody to France, even when we were members," Mr Smith stated.
His admission undermines political narratives suggesting EU membership provided effective mechanisms for managing cross-Channel migration, which he dismissed as "another political red herring."
Tony Smith said Ed Davey's Brexit claims are bogus
|GB NEWS
The Dublin Convention, which theoretically allowed EU nations to transfer asylum seekers back to their first country of entry, proved ineffective in practice according to Mr Smith's firsthand experience.
Despite Britain's full EU membership status, French authorities consistently declined to accept migrants who had travelled through their territory.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Yvette Cooper argues rights of asylum seekers more 'in the public interest' than rights of community
- Nigel Farage handed poll lead as Reform UK hoovers up more support than Labour and Tories combined
- The elite's fingerprints are all over the flag row. It reminds them of what they did - Paul Embery
Mr Smith emphasised that securing returns to France "was never on the cards," directly contradicting claims that Brexit damaged previously functional arrangements.
His testimony reveals that even with formal EU frameworks in place, France showed little willingness to readmit migrants who had crossed the Channel.
Tony Smith joined Alex Armstrong on GB News
|GB NEWS
This historical pattern of non-cooperation predates current diplomatic tensions and suggests that structural issues with France accepting returns existed long before Britain's departure from the European Union.
The Labour Government's recently announced arrangement with France appears to face similar obstacles, despite promises of a "one-in, one-out" system for Channel migrants.
Reports indicate over 100 detained migrants could become the initial group returned under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's scheme, which aims to begin implementation within weeks.
However, Mr Smith expressed scepticism about the plan's effectiveness, noting that "all of the announcements that we've heard, including this idea that the French will start intervening in the water, haven't really yielded any results."
Sir Ed Davey demands Farage and the Tories apologise for Brexit
Channel crossings have reached unprecedented levels this year, with 28,288 people arriving by small boat so far - a 46 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
The former border chief suggested the Government's continued reliance on French cooperation represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the crisis.
Mr Smith warned that Britain faces significant challenges unless it develops independent deterrent measures rather than depending on French assistance.
"I think that we're going to be in a lot of trouble if we can't come up with some kind of a deterrent and that means not really trying to control what the French are doing, but controlling what we're doing," he told GB News.
He advocated for immediate detention of arrivals at Dover followed by swift deportations, rather than pursuing diplomatic solutions with France.
"These constant attempts to persuade us that we're buddying up to France and they're going to solve this seems to be falling on stony ground," he observed.
His assessment comes after Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, blamed the Tories and Nigel Farage for the ongoing small boats crisis.
He claimed Britain already had a returns arrangement in place with the EU but Brexit put an end to it, and with it went its strongest deterrent.
Mr Smith's claims appeared to be a swipe at Mr Davey, with the former often being at the table for asylum talks with the bloc.