More than 22,000 migrants have now crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year, according to new official Government figures.
These included 51 people in one dinghy embarking on the treacherous voyage today despite torrential rain and choppy waters – and the boat tragedy earlier this week which killed 12 people.
A total of 22,028 asylum seekers have now arrived via Channel crossings in 2024, with 976 people intercepted already this month alone.
It also takes the tally arriving in the UK on small boats since Labour won the July 4 general election to 8,454.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was today taking part in a summit on how to tackle the Channel crossings emergency which she described as ‘this dangerous situation’.
UK Border Force officials are seen at Dover in Kent a group of people thought to be migrants – as it was revealed more than 22,000 people hade made small boat crossings this year
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (pictured) was among those attending a summit on small boat crossings at the National Crime Agency headquarters in London today
The meeting comes after 12 people died when a small boat split apart in the Channel on Tuesday – emergency service workers are seen here in Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France
Six children and a pregnant woman were among the victims who died when the dinghy they were in ripped in two on Tuesday morning.
Investigators have revealed that the Abeille Normandie – the Normandy Bee rescue vessel – took 15 people off the stricken boat soon after Mayday calls were put out.
A manslaughter investigation has since been opened, as judicial police try to find the people smugglers who provided their faulty vessel.
The traffickers are believed to have charged those on board the equivalent of £1,000-a-head for a place on the boat which was just 26ft long.
France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that most of the people on board were from Eritrea in east Africa.
He also blamed the UK for the tragedy, saying: ‘These people want to go to Great Britain, and it is not the tens of millions of euros that we negotiate each year with our British friends and who only pay a third of what we spend, that will put an end to illegal departures.’
Rather than France continuing to pour millions into trying to secure its border with Britain, Mr Darmanin said he wanted to ‘re-establish a traditional migration relationship with our friend and neighbour, the United Kingdom’.
He said the best way to do this was ‘through a migration treaty between Great Britain and the European Union’.
Migrants attempting to cross the English Channel get on an inflatable dinghy as the French police and gendarmes officers patrol on the beach in Wimereux, France, on Wednesday
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was also attending today’s summit at the NCA along with Cabinet members and law enforcement agency officers
Migrants are seen walking in the water to board a smuggler’s boat on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk in northern France, on April 26 this year
According to the French coastguard, there were at least 19 deaths in the Channel in this year before Tuesday’s tragedy.
But the International Organisation for Migration estimates 226 people including 35 children are either missing or have died since January.
Ms Cooper has insisted Channel crossings in July and August were lower than last year.
But the International Organisation for Migration estimates 226 people including 35 children are either missing or have died since January.
She was speaking ahead of a conference involving the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as well as law enforcement officials on the small boats issue.
She told broadcasters: ‘We have this dangerous situation – the criminal gangs are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.
‘In the first half of the year, the number of crossings that we inherited from the previous government were at a record high for spring crossings.
‘The numbers for July and August have been lower than in previous years, but we have also seen lives being lost and we still see these criminal gangs operating along the north French coast.
Firefighters in Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern Franccarry an injured migrant on a stretcher after the sinking of a migrant boat attempting to cross the English Channel on Tuesday
France’s Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin, who has criticised Britain’s approach, is seen speaking to first responders in Boulogne-sur-Mer on Tuesday this week
‘Those gangs should not be able to get away with it and that’s why we are determined to go after them.’
She declined to say where asylum seekers would be housed now the Government has abandoned plans to use RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire as accommodation.
Asked where they would live, she said: ‘We have seen this really shameful increase in the asylum backlog under the Conservatives that we inherited.
‘We also saw much lower returns, way lower returns, than under the last Labour government.
‘So, the action that we have immediately taken is to significantly increase the number of returns since the general election and we are also working now to close the backlog so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels.’
She described the Scampton option as ‘incredibly costly for this single site that was also strongly opposed in the local community as well’.
A Home Office spokesperson said in response to the latest figures on migrant arrivals: ‘We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.
‘The new Government is taking steps to boost our border security, setting up a new Border Security Command which will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies.’
The spokesperson added that this would be ;equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit’.
A boat thought to be packed with migrants is seen in the sea near the Wimereux beach in France on Wednesday this week
The small boat was spotted making the journey just a day after a boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel
Firefighters handle the bodies of migrants who died trying to cross the Channel to England in Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France on Tuesday this week
The total number to arrive in small boats last year was 29,437 in 601 boats, following a record 45,755 in 2022 compared to 28,526 the previous year.
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly has called on the Government to bring back the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme, which was aimed at convincing migrants they would not be allowed to remain in the UK.
The Conservative leadership contender said earlier this week: ‘This is tragic and it cannot continue. It is not enough to talk about “smashing the gangs” when the real-life consequences are so serious.
‘Labour must re-establish the deterrent to stop vulnerable people being exploited and secure our border.’
Tony Smith, a former Director General of Border Force, said a deterrent – either in the form of a returns agreement or third-party scheme such as Rwanda – was necessary to put people off trying to cross and so break the gangs’ business model.
He told the Mail: ‘Unless it is demonstrated that they won’t be allowed to stay, people will think they might as well take the risk.’
Earlier on Friday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick accused Sir Keir and Ms Cooper of having ‘surrendered to the smuggling gangs’ after scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda policy.
Mr Jenrick topped the Tory MPs’ poll in the first round of their leadership contest yesterday, with 28 votes – followed by Kemi Badenoch’s 22, Mr Cleverly’s 21, Tom Tugendhat’s 17, Mel Stride’s 16 and now-eliminated Dame Priti Patel’s 14.
Mr Jenrick said: ‘Yvette Cooper will meet the National Crime Agency and police chiefs today, and they’ll tell her what they told me when I was the minister, which is that although it’s important that we do that work, it is not sufficient. You have to have a deterrent.’
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard the RNLI Lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel on Tuesday
Conservative leadership contender and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick today criticised the Labour government’s approach to small boat crossings
Another candidate to be new Tory leader is former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who has called for Sir Keir Starmer’s administration to reintroduce the Rwanda flights scheme
Senior ministers including Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Attorney General Lord Hermer also attended today’s small boats summit at the NCA headquarters in London.
They were joined by representatives from the NCA, Border Force and the intelligence community.
An analysis commissioned by the Home Secretary which dives into the gangs’ capability was expected to be examined at the summit.
It was also considering closer collaboration with European agencies such as Europol and advancing the new Border Security Command.
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