Britain and France have agreed to a pilot plan that will send some migrants who cross the English Channel on small boats back to France as the U.K. government struggles to tamp down criticism that it has lost control of the country’s borders.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron announced a deal that aims to address the record number of migrants crossing the English Channel.

London and Paris unveiled a "pilot" programme on Thursday to return to France some of the migrants arriving in the UK on small boats across the Channel, as President Emmanuel