BRITAIN is on the verge of signing a returns deal with Iraq to thwart the small boats crisis.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to be in the final stages of negotiations to help break up people smuggling gangs.

Iraqi Kurds have been one of the biggest obstacles to tackling the problem which has seen numbers continuously ramp up since 2018.

The proposed deal comes after Sir Keir Starmer struck a “one in, one out” deal with France last week to help reduce numbers.

But more than 22,000 migrants have already made the perilous journey this year.

The deal will help return the number of migrants making the Channel crossings and failed asylum seekers back to Baghdad.

It had been hoped that the deal could have been signed off this month but an Iraqi delegation has delayed their visit, the Sunday Times said.

The agreement, which is anticipated to be concluded by the end of summer, intends to simplify the process for UK authorities to detain and subsequently repatriate migrants to Iraq.

The National Crime Agency has been drafted in to try and stop the bosses of the smuggling gangs from bringing migrants to Britain.

Bosses from Britain’s so-called FBI are understood to have established a presence with the Kurdish authorities.

Meanwhile, boats and engines are under stringent surveillance, with UK-trained sniffer dogs being utilized along the Turkey-Bulgaria route to detect rubber dinghies used in these crossings.

Rob Jones, the NCA boss head of operations, said he was targeting areas where kingpins thought they were “untouchable”.

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told Sky News that it was “absolutely ludicrous” to think the deal with France would have any impact.

He remarked: “This arrangement will result in only about 6% of unauthorized migrants who enter the UK being sent back to France. The notion that the remaining 94% would stay here and that this will make any impact is utterly absurd.”

“Of course, if 94% of illegal immigrants who cross can stay in the UK, that is no deterrent whatsoever.”

The Prime Minister will hold talks this week with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he called illegal migration “a global problem”.