A pilot initiative between the U.K. and France, designed to reduce the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, has been abandoned, Britain’s government announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Home Office said the so-called “one in, one out” deal is “no longer processing new cases.”

Under the plan, people who arrived in the U.K. after making the dangerous crossing across the Channel could be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who applied through a safe and legal route.

Under the terms of the arrangement, approximately 1,500 individuals have been repatriated to France, whilst a marginally smaller number have been transferred to the U.K.

The agreement was designed to remain in force for three years, although it contained a provision permitting the parties to terminate it prematurely.

"We persist in our collaboration with France to relentlessly combat small boat crossings, and we have achieved tangible progress," the Home Office said in a statement.

Although the scheme has been discontinued, the Home Office stated that deportation flights will proceed in the forthcoming weeks for those already in detention.

The present situation contrasts starkly with that of last year.

The number of individuals undertaking the crossing has declined precipitously this year, reaching a five-year low, owing to a variety of factors, among them intensified police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France.

Thus far this year, approximately 19,000 people have made the crossing, representing a decrease of roughly 40% compared with the same period last year.

The danger of such crossings was made clear on Monday, when a 10-year-old child and two women died, apparently trampled to death on a boat packed with more than 100 people.

Cooperation on halting the boats stalled following the U.K.'s acrimonious split from the European Union in 2020, yet in recent years the U.K. and France have concluded several agreements aimed at getting a handle on the issue.

In recent years, small boat crossings have evolved into a highly charged political issue in the U.K.

Outrage at the apparent incapacity of successive governments to grapple with the problem has underpinned a series of demonstrations and riots, and has propelled the ascendancy of the hard-right Reform UK party.