“We’ve returned about 35,000 migrants,” Starmer tells Trump

“Mr President, enforced returns (rather than people going voluntarily), were 1/5th of this figure” says Brexit Facts4EU

Montage © Brexit Facts4EU 2025

And even more humiliation for Sir Keir - our staggering chart shows illegal boat migrants are 60% more than 3-year average

In the first nine months since Sir Keir Starmer came to power (Jul 2024-Mar 2025) there have been 6,742 enforced returns of illegal migrants. This is less than one-fifth of the number the Prime Minister gave to the US President.

Excluding Albanians, from a safe country with which the UK has a returns treaty signed by the previous government and in force since 2021, this number falls to 4,835. This is less than one-seventh of the number the Prime Minister gave to President Trump.

The latest figures from the Home Office show returns of illegal migrants up to the end of March this year (2025). Facts4EU has analysed the numbers of returns over the past 20 years and below we show the results.

Both the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister have repeatedly and knowingly been misleading the public about its ‘tough action’ on illegal migration from within a few months of coming to power.

The disinformation of this Government falls foul of its clampdown of free speech online

Yvette Cooper and Sir Keir Starmer know full well that when they use phrases such as “we’ve returned 35,000 migrants” the public think in terms of enforced removals from the country by the Government. We are quite sure the public are not nearly as interested in the number of migrants who have decided to leave voluntarily – generally with a ‘golden goodbye’ of cash to see them on their way.

Neither are they interested in the automatic repatriation of migrants to a holiday destination for many Brits (and ‘a safe country’ in UN parlance) of Albania, with which the UK has had a treaty since 2021. Nor returns of Romanians to Romania, an EU member state and therefore a safe country by definition. Even if these two nationalities are included, however, the government only achieved less than 7,000 enforced removals, not 35,000.

“This wasn’t a slip by Starmer — it was a straightforward attempt to impress President Trump by providing inflated figures.
“Pre-election, Starmer promised honesty and competence, but he has already lost all credibility.
“Both the President and the British people deserve better than this. Starmer has pathetically failed to ‘smash the gangs’. He should admit his failure and make way for a new government that is prepared to address the problem with the urgency it demands.”
- Former Secretary of State the Rt Hon David Jones, commenting to Facts4EU.Org, 01 Aug 2025

Both the Prime Minister and his Home Secretary have been guilty of what is known as ‘disinformation’. As most readers will know, the difference between misinformation and disinformation, according to some of the legislation we now operate under, is that ‘disinformation’ implies that the person imparting it knew it to be false or misleading. This is most certainly true of these two holders of high offices of state.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Enforced returns in the last 20 years

Showing the 12 months to March in 2005, 2015, and 2025
(Excludes those to the safe countries of Albania and Romania)

Year to Mar 2005 : 17,940
Year to Mar 2015 : 11,488
Year to Mar 2025 : 3,548

Unfortunately, we have fresh humiliation for Sir Keir – boat migrant figures are up dramatically

Facts4EU went on the analyse the total number of Macron’s illegal migrants who have crossed the English Channel since the crisis first started in 2018 – seven years ago.

The total now exceeds 175,000

After seven years of this, President Macron still hasn’t taken any of his illegal migrants back.

Next we look at how well Sir Keir Starmer and his Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have done with his claim to President Trump that he has ‘got tough’ on this problem. Unfortunately we must heap fresh humiliation onto the Prime Minister.

A good example of the work we do that is unseen. We're now going to be dragged back into the EU more rapidly than anyone thought. We need to re-build our team - fast. If you want us to be equipped for the fight ahead, please donate right now.

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Migrant crossings of the English Channel vary according to the time of year. In order to give a true comparison of Sir Keir’s success in “smashing the gangs”, we therefore looked at the first seven months of this year, 01 Jan – 31 Jul 2025, and compared this with exactly the same period for each of the previous six years, since the crisis started. Below are the results.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Starmer’s figures are up by over 60% this year, compared to average of last three years

First seven months of each year since this started
How do they compare?

The number of migrants who cross is dependent on the weather and some years have been more favourable than others, overall. The average over the last three years has been 15,583 in the first seven months of the year, January to July. This year, under the Prime Minister’s cunning plan to tackle the problem by going ‘upstream’ to the source and of “smashing the gangs” has resulted in almost 10,000 more migrants crossing than the average for the last three years.

This represents an increase of more than 60% over the average of the last three years for the same period.

[Please note that the above does not yet even include the numbers for yesterday, 31 July, because they were not available at the time of publication. We will be updating the chart as soon the numbers for yesterday are published by the Home Office.]

Observations

There are a great many examples of disingenuity in the world of politics. The strange thing is that so many politicians don't seem to realise that their reputation with the public actually falls when they're being disingenuous. There have been many examples which members of the Facts4EU team will give, when their reaction is: "Who do you think you're kidding?"

Technically, a lawyer like Sir Keir can argue that because migrants left voluntarily but did so on a plane chartered by the government, then these are migrants 'removed by the government'. What people really care about, however, are the vastly more illegal migrants who should be locked up until a flight is ready and then escorted onto the plane by border force officials equipped to restrain them if they try to flee.

The majority of the public would probably now agree that all migrants arriving by small boat across the Channel should be taken to detention centres and detained there until they can be removed. The justification for this is simple. They arrived from a safe country (France) having first travelled though many other safe countries to get there. If they were genuinely in fear of the lives or of brutal treatment, they would immediately seek asylum in the first safe country they reached. Migrants who make it to the northern French coast have effectively put the UK as their No.1 preferred place to live, out of a long list of countries on a shopping list.

Despite this, only a tiny fraction of them have been forcibly deported, and the majority of these were returned to their European homeland. The numbers entering the UK illegally across the Channel are at all-time record highs, and yet the Prime Minister portrayed a completely different impression to the US President. We found it embarrassing to watch.

Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.

[ Sources: The Home Office ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 01 Aug 2025

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Reader Comments 10

1. Northern Muppet , Friday, August 01, 2025, 10:29:

2TK telling an untruth to try to 'manipulate' the coverage by the dead-tree media? NO!! I just don't believe it!!
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Does he really think that Trump is as willing to blindly accept his lines like a mirror journalist??
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All he does is make himself look like a liar to his electorate, and make him look a fool to POTUS

2. NH , Friday, August 01, 2025, 11:13:

On immigration every thing is turning quite dramatically in the EU mainly because they see the anger building and they fear the political consequence. Germany has now decided to lead the anti-immigration charge. Denmark has changed t's policy on immigration radically and now only offers "temporary protection". As Mette Frederikson the Danish PM says "security is not just about Russia it's about what's going on in your local community". Denmark intends to use it's EU presidency to push for changes in migration policy.
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At the same time 9 EU countries are calling for the EU to revise it's interpretation of the European Convention on Human rights as they strongly disagree with the way the ECHR interprets this. Sadly much of the damage it already done and they are going to have to live with the consequences.
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Kier Starmer is not learning from the EU's experience and he's showing how out of touch he is with UK people. 12.3% of the UK prison population are now foreign nationals, many are there for violence and sex offences. Despite this Kier still believes he is helping vulnerable people. His only policy is to try and suppress the UK population which he believes is the real problem.

3. dsgagadg , Friday, August 01, 2025, 11:41:

CONTENT DELETED

4. Have You Wondered , Friday, August 01, 2025, 12:31:

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2. NH - Indeed.
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The EU have already in effect withdrawn from the ECHR !! Take a good look at the EU. France, Belgium, Germany ,Poland, Hungary ,Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Italy and recently Greece have all used a suspension of Schengen (the free movement of people) to patrol their borders, instead of using the ECHR ARTICLE 15 Derogation in time of emergency and the 1951 Refugee Convention article 9 "...in the interest of essential national security" , for which they would be crticised profoundly.
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So why is the UK allowing this invasion?
.

5. Have You Wondered , Friday, August 01, 2025, 12:37:

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Migration. This is beyond incompetence - this is deliberate !
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With the complete lack of decisive immigration counter measures, indeed, one might suggest the encouragement of illegal migrants across the channel, I can only conclude that this invasion is being orchestrated? Why would the UK and the EU allow this invasion to continue. The whole of geographic Europe is up in arms about migration and nothing decisive is being done just attempts at tickling the edges.
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Why?
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Why - when there are 7 pieces of international laws and rules (I'll post on request) that say the EU must protect against unseaworthy vessels and ensure migrants safety.
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Not to mention all this could be resolved using the ECHR legislation itself !
Why oh why is the Govt. not debating that the UK (and European) predicament with the ECHR could be resolved from within the convention itself (article 15) along with 1951 Refugee Convention article 9? Derogation in times of Emergency.
Maybe with the very real threat to national security, the amount of parliamentary time, political upheaval, economic concern, housing, crime, personal safety, social unrest and concern about an overall threatening cultural change in the UK, that the immigration issue comes within Article 15.
ECHR ARTICLE 15
Derogation in time of emergency
1. In time of war or other public emergency threatening the
life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures
derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent
strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that
such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under
international law.
.
1951 Refugee Convention article 9 "...in the interest of essential national security"
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No rush talks only began 35yrs ago in 1991 with the Sangatte Protocol (1991)
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Why are they allowing this invasion? This is beyond incompetence - it's deliberate!
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6. Northern Muppet , Friday, August 01, 2025, 13:02:

FWIW, i think the blob are scared witless about the ability of people to communicate and assemble virtually over the Internet.
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It is my belief that they are trying to orchestrate the conditions for a civil war, to enable them to restrict our freedoms to such an extent that the electorate can no longer have this freedom of association.
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It simply CANNOT be happening by mistake or without a clear understanding of what importing masses of Islam will lead to.
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They don't trust you!!

7. NH , Friday, August 01, 2025, 14:02:

6. NM
Fortunately, for everybody that wants free speech, the USA is coming to our assistance. According to media reports the USA has recovered emails from civil servants working for Labour Minister Peter Kyle to social media sites. They are trying to use the "online safety act" to censor posts about mass migration and asylum hotels.
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The Labour party do not see the behaviour of the asylum seekers as the problem. They see they people who are protesting, the vast majority of them peacefully, as the problem.

8. Sparky , Friday, August 01, 2025, 15:30:

Kier Starmer has used the correct terminology. Enforced returns are deportations, KS has said returned, he didn’t say deported.
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The backlog of processing deliberately left by the last Govt will inevitably slow down any returns. Hopefully this will grow faster as the backlog reduces, it needs to.
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Another issue is the countries illegal immigrants are coming from. 15% Afghans, 12% Iranians and 11% Syria. Frustratingly, due to the regimes in these countries, it makes it less likely that immigrants will be returned.

9. Mr Sceptic , Friday, August 01, 2025, 17:43:

8 Good post Sparky … if Facts4EU and David Jones assume that ‘returned migrants’ are automatically the same as enforced/deported migrants then they both need to wisen up.

10. Gazzablack , Saturday, August 02, 2025, 10:24:

9, sceptic
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They don't though do they?
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And just to note, the returns that have taken place were done so under agreements negotiated by the Tories.

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