UK loses appeal over block on removal of asylum seeker under UK-France deal

The British government on Tuesday lost its attempt to overturn a temporary block on the removal of an asylum seeker under Britain's "one in, one out" deal with France.

A 25-year-old Eritrean man, who arrived in Britain on a small boat on August 12, last week won an interim injunction preventing his removal to France in an early setback to the British government's plan to return such migrants.

Britain has since returned the first migrant under the UK-France returns deal and also defeated a similar legal challenge aimed at stopping another asylum seeker's removal.

Lawyers for Britain's interior ministry argued that a lower court ruling blocking one man's removal could incentivise others to bring cases and delay the implementation of the scheme, but its application for permission to appeal was refused.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure to stop small boats taking asylum seekers across the Channel from France, a route by which more than 30,000 people have come so far in 2025.