This is despite almost 2,000 people crossing in the last five days alone.

And a record number of migrants were detected in the Channel in July – the month when the agreement with Paris was struck.

Mr Tapp told BBC Breakfast: “This is a pilot scheme which took some really hard negotiation from Yvette Cooper and her team.

“We would like to see it grow.

“At the moment, it’s starting to act as a deterrent, because, if for example, you run a car business and one in 15 of your cars that you are selling is dodgy, your business model starts to fall down.

“But this is only a part of what we’re doing.

“We’re also striking more returns agreements with other nations, there are hard negotiations going on there.

“Importantly, for the public, we’re moving people out of hotels.

“We are exploring MoD sites so that we can close those hotels faster. Unfortunately we inherited a system from the Conservatives of open borders. We had 400 crossings in 2018.

“Over 150,000 since.”

Some 30,838 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, up 37% compared to last year.

At least 20 people have died attempting to reach the UK.

Mr Tapp, speaking about the lack of returns, added: “What we’ve done here is we’ve struck a deal with the French to say that when people come over, they can be immediately returned back to France.

“If you’re a migrant sat on a beach in Calais and you’re going to give up to £10,000 to a smuggler, there’s that risk of immediate removal, which means you’re less likely to part with that money.

“We will see the first flight off the ground in the next few weeks.

“The flight is going to be off the ground very soon.”

Labour’s new Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has vowed to overhaul human rights laws to allow the UK to deport foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers.

But the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, seemingly undermined Ms Mahmood’s pledge, declaring attempts to reform the European Convention on Human Rights was a “political trick”.

The Home Secretary on Monday declared: “The debate in Europe is starting to change. Other countries are actually trying to have this conversation around reform of the convention.

“That’s not been the case previously, where maybe Britain was seen as more of a lone operator, a little bit more isolated in trying to make that case.”

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Labour are bickering amongst themselves while the small boat crisis only gets worse. It’s pathetic. Whatever they say publicly to try and con the public, privately they know their plan to stop the boats won’t work.”

Attorney General Lord Hermer declared ministers are to change the law to stop the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) blocking deportations of illegal migrants and foreign criminals.

Lord Hermer, who is a strong supporter of the ECHR, said Labour would “leave no stone unturned” in seeking to toughen up the way the courts applied the ECHR.

He said Strasbourg case law is very “permissive” and allows states an “enormous margin of appreciation” on what they can do in the asylum and immigration space.
“It has developed particularly over the last five or six years, and I am concerned to ensure that domestically, we have kept pace with that.

“Some of our colleagues on the Council of Europe have, I think, more effective, more robust mechanisms that are compliant with Article 8 that we need to look at. We are kicking the tyres hard at every level.”

He said this included looking at case worker guidance, immigration rules, primary legislation, and the Government adopting a “very proactive litigation strategy”.

The Attorney General said France and Germany, as well as other European nations, would ditch migrant returns deals with the UK if it left the ECHR.

“It’s inconceivable our partners would have entered into these agreements if we were not members of the Council of Europe,” Lord Hermer said.