UK backs plan to accelerate illegal migration removals

The UK and other European countries have signed a landmark declaration pushing courts to rethink how they decide on migration cases, in a bid to make it easier to deport illegal migrants.

The agreement, unveiled at a summit in Moldova on Friday, warns that European democracy itself could be undermined unless states are able to respond more effectively to people smuggling and modern migration pressures.

It urges the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to leave most migration cases to member states.

Speaking ahead of the summit, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the deal as a "common-sense approach" and said she wants to ensure systems "can't be unfairly gamed".

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was drafted after the Second World War to set out basic rights and freedoms across Europe and is enforced by the Strasbourg court.

The new declaration is not a rewriting of the human rights law, external - which would take years - but is a political signal from all the member states to human rights judges that there needs to be greater consideration for public interest and democracy when deciding on migration cases.

It was signed by the 46 members of the Council of Europe, the political body which oversees the human rights court and is entirely separate to the European Union.

The document says pressures facing European countries have either changed significantly or were unforeseen at the time the human rights convention was drafted.

It states have "the undeniable sovereign right" to establish their own immigration policies and remove foreign nationals in the public interest.

Critics of Friday's declaration said the wording will undermine human rights protections or have no effect on migration because judges could ignore it.

The government requires people who are in the UK, but no longer have permission to live or work in the country, to leave.

This is called a return and can happen voluntarily or involuntarily.

People can lose the right to be in the UK for different reasons, such as a visa expiring, an asylum claim being refused, or by receiving a criminal conviction that results in deportation.

There were 37,918 returns from January 2025 to December 2025. This was up by 9% on the same period the previous year.

That number of returns is equivalent to about 5% of total emigration from the UK from July 2024 to June 2025.

Of all returns from January 2025 to December 2025:

- 5,634 had been convicted of a criminal offence - 11,631 had lodged an asylum claim at some point - 2,550 had arrived in the UK by small boat

People from India made up 25% of all returns from January 2025 to December 2025.

The UK is trialing a scheme with France to return people who arrived in the country on a small boat.

For every person the UK sends back to France, the UK will accept an equal number of asylum seekers.

This is called the "one in, one out" deal. As of 22 April 2026, 551 people have been returned through this arrangement.

Returns can happen in different ways. "Enforced returns", which includes deportations, means the government arranges transport to return people to a different country. In some cases, people are escorted by officers.

All other returns are "voluntary". This means a person has agreed to leave and may receive government help with travel and other costs to help facilitate the return.

Some people classed as leaving the country voluntarily do so completely independently and without any government knowledge or involvement.

Independent returns made up 32% of the total from January 2025 to December 2025.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper meeting Alain Berset, head of the Council of Europe, for Friday's signing

Turning specifically to people smuggling - either by gangs or orchestrated by hostile states - the declaration says that the phenomenon "risks undermining support for and the integrity of the Convention system".

It argues that countries including the UK should be allowed to pursue deals with other countries, including the potential creation of "return hubs" beyond Europe.

"A hostile state or other actor cannot be allowed to undermine European democracies and the values on which the Convention is founded and to abuse the system that it was established to protect," the paper says.

Italy has already struck a deal with Albania to accommodate rejected migrants there.

The UK has been exploring similar to deals - but nothing concrete has come of those talks yet.