Two Heathrow flights depart with no migrants as legal challenges stall UK returns deal

Two scheduled deportation flights from London Heathrow left without Channel migrants aboard on Wednesday as legal actions continue to delay removals under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “one-in, one-out” returns agreement with France.

An Air France service that departed at 9 a.m. to Paris Charles de Gaulle and a separate 3:20 p.m. flight took off with no migrants visibly on board, as a High Court injunction and a spate of prospective legal challenges disrupted a programme the government had said would return people who arrived in the UK by small boat.

The latest block followed a High Court ruling this week that granted an interim injunction preventing the removal of an unnamed 25-year-old Eritrean man who arrived in the UK by small boat five weeks ago. Mr Justice Sheldon said there was "a serious issue to be tried" on the man’s trafficking and modern slavery claims and that the Secretary of State’s investigatory duties needed to be examined; the injunction bars removal for 14 days.

Lawyers for the man told the court he had been trafficked from Ethiopia to Libya in 2023, travelled via Italy and France, and crossed the Channel to the UK on Aug. 12 after his mother paid smugglers. Court papers said the man initially answered "no" when asked about exploitation during an asylum screening interview but later lodged a modern slavery claim. Counsel argued that removing him would risk multiple human rights breaches and that the body tasked with examining his trafficking claim could not perform its functions if he were sent abroad.

Legal sources told reporters that roughly half of about 92 people reported to be in Home Office custody after the returns agreement was activated are expected to bring similar legal challenges, using human rights and modern slavery grounds. The prospect of multiple last-minute legal actions has complicated the government’s plan to carry out removals quickly.

Officials have said migrants due to be returned to France would be escorted by Border Force officers or contractors employed by Mitie, the firm hired to assist with removals. The government has said those removed would be transferred to a French processing centre at Charles de Gaulle airport known as a ZAPI, a secure facility that can hold up to about 160 people at a time and where individuals may be processed for return to their country of arrival, granted entry, or detained on criminal charges.

The Home Office declined to discuss operational details of individual removals. A Downing Street spokesman said France is a safe country and officials were "expecting the first flight to take off imminently," denying that the blocking of early flights meant the system was in disarray or that ministers were powerless before the courts.

Opposition and Conservative voices seized on the aborted departures. Conservative MP Chris Philp, who had warned the scheme would face a "slew of legal challenges," said the plan was now "clearly dead" and criticised what he described as strategic use of human rights and modern slavery claims to prevent removals. The government has faced pressure to reduce Channel crossings since the returns agreement with France took effect on Aug. 7, the first major policy change by the new administration after it scrapped the previous government's Rwanda scheme.

Since the returns deal was implemented, more than 5,400 small-boat arrivals have reached the UK, according to figures cited by officials. So far this year, the number of people arriving by small boat stands at about 31,026, an increase of roughly 38 percent on the same period last year, figures cited by media reports show.

The legal challenge that led to the injunction illustrates the tension between expedited returns and the statutory duties of UK authorities to investigate trafficking and modern slavery claims. Lawyers and campaign groups say such claims must be properly assessed before removal; the government maintains that France is a safe destination and that returns are necessary to deter dangerous crossings.

Auberge des Migrants, a French charity campaigning against the returns scheme, reported earlier in the week that one of the afternoon flights had been identified as a Home Office removals service. The charity and other advocacy groups have been monitoring the implementation of the deal and assisting people subject to removal notices.

Authorities continue to make operational arrangements at removal centres such as Harmondsworth, near Heathrow, where some of those slated for return have been held. Any person ultimately removed to France would be taken to a ZAPI for further processing under French procedures.

The High Court injunction and the likelihood of further legal claims mean the returns agreement may face delays lasting weeks or longer as courts consider the substance of trafficking and human rights arguments. Ministers have said they will pursue the returns programme, while legal representatives and charities say proper safeguards must be respected before any removal is carried out.