LABOUR was last night accused of signing up to a “migrant merry-go-round” with France.

Ministers are expected to reach a “one in, one-out” returns deal with the French in a bid to deter small boats.

The agreement would see France take back Channel crossers in return for the UK accepting a legitimate asylum seeker with family already here.

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to turn the tide on a record year of small boats after promising to “smash the gangs” in the election.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau believe the returns plan would break the business model of the criminals.

An insider from the government commented: “The initiative will begin as a pilot to demonstrate that if you pay for a boat passage, you might soon end up back in France.”

But Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded the proposals a “gimmick”.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp remarked: “We give the French half a billion pounds to prevent the boats from departing Calais, yet we encounter a repetitive cycle where the same number of migrants still reach here.

“The French are failing to intercept the boats at sea, not returning them as the Belgians do, and now, rather than insisting on genuine enforcement, Labour is proposing a ‘one in, one out’ gimmick.”