BRITAIN is on the verge of signing a returns deal with Iraq to thwart the small boats crisis.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to be in the final stages of negotiations to help break up people smuggling gangs.

Iraqi Kurds have been one of the biggest obstacles to tackling the problem which has seen numbers continuously ramp up since 2018.

The proposed deal comes after Sir Keir Starmer struck a “one in, one out” deal with France last week to help reduce numbers.

But more than 22,000 migrants have already made the perilous journey this year.

The deal will help return the number of migrants making the Channel crossings and failed asylum seekers back to Baghdad.

It had been hoped that the deal could have been signed off this month but an Iraqi delegation has delayed their visit, the Sunday Times said.

The agreement, expected to be finalised at the end of the summer, would allow UK authorities to detain and then send migrants back to Iraq more easily.

The National Crime Agency has been drafted in to try and stop the bosses of the smuggling gangs from bringing migrants to Britain.

Bosses from Britain’s so-called FBI are understood to have established a presence with the Kurdish authorities.

Boats and engines are also been closely monitored with sniffer dogs from the UK being deployed between Turkey and Bulgaria to find rubber dinghies being used in the crossings.

Rob Jones, the NCA boss head of operations, said he was targeting areas where kingpins thought they were “untouchable”.

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told Sky News that it was “absolutely ludicrous” to think the deal with France would have any impact.

He said: “This deal will only see about 6% of illegal immigrants who arrive in the UK getting returned to France, and the idea that therefore 94% can stay here is going to have any effect is absolutely ludicrous.”

“Of course, if 94% of illegal immigrants who cross can stay in the UK, that is no deterrent whatsoever.”

The Prime Minister will hold talks this week with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he called illegal migration “a global problem”.