The UK will begin returning migrants arriving in small boats to France within weeks under a new pilot scheme, Sir Keir Starmer has said, BBC reported.

Under the "one in, one out" deal, some arrivals would be returned to France and in exchange the UK would accept an equivalent number of asylum seekers, subject to security checks.

Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of a three-day state visit, the prime minister said the plan would show that attempts to cross the Channel in small boats would "be in vain".

It had been reported that the scheme would see up to 50 people a week being returned, but Sir Keir did not confirm any figures, according to BBC