Another 400 migrants cross English Channel on small boats after 616 people made the journey on Sunday – a new daily record for the year – as 2023 total rises close to 8,380
- Ruthless traffickers exploited the weekend heatwave, low wind and calm seas
Around 400 migrants are believed to have crossed the Channel by small boat so far today.
At least eight inflatable dinghies or other small boats have reportedly reached the UK today, but official figures are yet to be confirmed by the Government.
This weekend saw 703 migrants intercepted by Border Force in 14 boats – an average of 50 people per vessel.
On Saturday 87 asylum seekers made the crossing in two boats, while 616 migrants reached the UK in 12 boats yesterday – the highest daily number so far this year.
The average of 50 migrants per boat suggests as many as 400 people may have made the perilous journey so far today.
On Saturday 87 asylum seekers made the crossing in two boats, while 616 migrants reached the UK in 12 boats yesterday (pictured: migrants arriving last night) – the highest daily number so far this year
Small, crammed boats were escorted by the French Navy from near Calais, Dunkirk, and Boulogne for mid-channel pick-ups by Britain’s Border Force. Picture taken on Saturday
One incident this afternoon saw around 50 migrants rescued from a single boat off the coast of Dungeness in Kent by an RNLI lifeboat.
While weather conditions were good this morning, visibility has deteriorated as the day progresses – with thick fog hanging over the sea.
Border Force catamaran Volunteer remains in the Channel, as more migrants are expected to be intercepted and brought to shore later today.
According to official government figures, a total of 8,362 people have crossed the Channel in 192 boats so far this year.
Traffickers used the weekend heatwave, low wind and calm seas to ferry people across the busy trade route in small boats crammed with around 51 people each.
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The figure for yesterday exceeds the 497 people who arrived on Saturday, April 22, and brings the provisional total for this year to 8,380.
It is a blow for Rishi Sunak, who claimed last month that his curbs on the boats were ‘beginning to work’ after a north wind in May and early June brought crossings to a near halt.
However, yesterday’s arrivals suggest that bad weather was the criminal gangs’ key obstacle.
Calm weather will continue in the Channel until Wednesday, when northerly winds are due.
Twelve boats were detected crossing the Channel yesterday, which suggests an average of around 51 people per boat.
Downing Street today reacted to the new figures by insisting that crossings ‘fluctuate on any given day’.
Mr Sunak’s official spokesperson told journalists: ‘Obviously we know that crossings fluctuate on any given day.
‘I think that when the Prime Minister gave his update, he was talking about a five-month average 20% reduction rather than a snapshot figure.
‘So we do know that number of crossings fluctuates; equally we know that, on average, the enhanced work with our French counterparts means that you are now more likely to be intercepted and stopped if you attempt to make a crossing than succeed in crossing the Channel.
‘So there is a great deal of work going on which is stopping these criminal gangs in their tracks.
‘But, clearly, crossings are continuing and that is because we have not been able to put in place our full plans, and obviously there is a great deal of work across Government to that end.’
Number 10 also welcomed TikTok’ s decision to block advertising for small boat crossings, but declined to comment on the Home Office dropping plans to place an asylum seeker accommodation barge near Liverpool.
Mr Sunak’s spokesperson said the PM is still confident in having enough accommodation for people arriving on small boats, given the Home Office is no longer considering using the Birkenhead area as a site for a berthing a vessel.
The official said: ‘I can’t comment on speculation about where there may or may not be sites.
‘But as the Home Office have set out, we are exploring ways to add additional capacity. That includes vessels like the Bibby Stockholm. Alternative accommodation sites that are being taken forward are Wethersfield in Scampton, a non-military site in Bexhill, so that will add additional capacity.
‘And of course, the overarching aim is for policy to act as a deterrent rather than us be required to detain people for extended periods of time.’
It comes on the day a report by a cross-party group of MPs suggested Albanian migrants to the UK are unlikely to be at risk in their own country or require asylum.
Of the 45,755 people who crossed the Channel in small boats in 2022, 12,301 – or more than a quarter – came from Albania and most claimed asylum after arriving.
The Commons home affairs committee found little justification for the Home Office‘s acceptance of 51 per cent of Albanian asylum claims up to June 2022 – a far higher proportion than elsewhere in Europe.
A report by the committee said: ‘Albania is a safe country, it is not at war and is a candidate country to join the EU.
‘There is no clear basis for the UK to routinely accept thousands of asylum applications from Albanian citizens.
‘The surge in Channel crossings has reportedly led to a rise in crime in Britain, with 80 Albanian migrants sentenced for offences including murder, rape and kidnap in the first four months of 2023 alone.
A boat of migrants coming into contact with a ship in the English Channel on Saturday
The National Crime Agency has previously revealed that a ‘significant number’ of Albanian Channel migrants work for drug gangs once in the UK and send hundreds of millions of pounds to Albania every year.
The NCA also said Albanians were falsely claiming to be victims of trafficking to game the system and remain in the UK.
The committee found that in January 2023 there were more foreign nationals from Albania in English and Welsh jails than any other country.
Nine other countries, including Germany, had accepted no asylum claims from Albania.
The committee wants the Home Office to explain why the UK’s asylum acceptance rate is so generous, and insists ‘a key driver of migration from Albania is economic’.
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