Liberal Democrat leader urges UK to join EU migration pact to curb Channel crossings

Sir Ed Davey has called for the United Kingdom to accede to the EU's Migration and Asylum Pact, a framework launched in June aimed at speeding asylum procedures and increasing returns of irregular migrants. He contends that participation would allow the UK to send arrivals back to the EU country where they first landed, thereby dismantling the profit model of the gangs facilitating Channel crossings. Labour representatives note that collaborative efforts with European partners have already averted over 47,000 illegal trips in two years and expelled 70,000 individuals lacking legal permission.

This year, small-boat arrivals fell by 43% compared with the previous year. The pact mandates screening, biometric data collection and a shared Eurodac database, while offering a solidarity pool of about 30,000 asylum seekers and a €20,000 per-person financial alternative for states that decline to host them. Joining would require unanimous EU approval and new domestic legislation, and the UK would need to negotiate access to the EU database lost after Brexit.