New figures show just 153 arrivals have been sent back across the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer signed the one-in-one-out agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron.
A total of 141 have been brought into the UK, with the most recent seven arriving by plane on Friday.
Those meagre removals are dwarfed by 13,856 migrants who have landed in Britain on dinghies – leaving the deportation rate at just 1.1 per cent.
Home Office sources yesterday blamed strict criteria on who can be permitted entry into Britain for the slow progress.
The department said it received loads of applications and would be “scaling up the pilot scheme” in months to come.
Currently, to qualify for the “in” route a migrant must be in France with a passport or national identity document.
The Home Office then prioritises people from countries with an asylum grant rate of more than 80 per cent in the UK, including Eritrea, Afghanistan and Sudan.
They also give preference to those who have lived in Britain before or visited in the last five years.
Once the criteria are met, migrants attend an appointment at a visa application centre in Paris with their identity documents.
Around 98 per cent of Eritreans who’ve left the country don’t have a passport because they need to complete military service to obtain one.
But they say their reason for fleeing the country is to specifically avoid joining the army.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We continue to receive and accept more applicants, with stringent security and eligibility checks to ensure the integrity of this new safe and legal route.
“We are scaling up the pilot scheme and returns of those with no right to be here as part of our landmark agreement with France.
“More than 150 small boat migrants have already been removed, with further flights scheduled in the coming weeks. In return, we have taken 141 migrants.”
