SMALL boat crossings are UP on last year with more than 1,000 illegal migrants making the dangerous trip already.
The number of arrivals went into three figures after 388 came in seven dinghies this weekend alone.
It takes the 2024 total so far to 1,057 – more than the 991 at the same point last year and an early blow to Rishi Sunak’s pledge to stop the boats.
The PM recently trumpeted stats showing overall crossings in 2023 were 36 per cent lower than 2022.
He hailed his half-billion-pound deal with France to step up beach patrols, and return agreements with countries like Albania.
By spring Mr Sunak also hopes to have sent the first removal flight to Rwanda to act as a deterrent for would-be Channel migrants.
But the flagship deportation plan is set to be frustrated by peers when the legislation comes to the House of Lords today.
Peers are expected to send the Bill back to MPs with a series of amendments that all-but torpedo the scheme.
Mr Sunak has urged the unelected chamber not to stand in the way of the Rwanda scheme passed in the Commons.
Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said: “After all the Prime Minister’s boasts, almost 400 people crossed the Channel in small boats over the weekend”.
The Home Office said: “We are committed to stopping the boats. Close working with our French partners meant 26,000 attempted Channel crossings were prevented in 2023.”
What is the Rwanda Bill?
The Rwanda Bill ignores certain human rights laws in a radical bid to get deportation flights going and end the “scourge” of illegal migration.
The plan will disapply elements of the Human Rights Act which would have exposed the government to more relentless legal delay.
By also declaring in law that Rwanda is “safe”, ministers believe courts will be forced to throw out any challenges to their flagship scheme.
The bill will also let ministers override European Court of Human Rights edicts to block planes from taking off, like the one grounded at the last minute in 2022.
What happens next?
Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Bill has cleared its final Commons hurdle, meaning it has now progressed to the House of Lords where peers will scrutinise the legislation.
Will the Lords put up a fight?
Peers have already begun trying to water down the legislation. Many have made clear their disdain for the Rwanda plan, with arch-critic Lord Carlile already admitting he and many colleagues will try to sink it. Mr Sunak also lacks a majority in the Lords, and even if he did, peers – usually unbothered about climbing the political ladder – are far less likely to toe the party line.
So is it game over?
No. The will of the elected Commons trumps that of the unelected Lords. This means that while peers can totally gut the Rwanda Bill and send it back to MPs in a weakened form, the government can overrule these changes and throw it back to the Lords as they first voted for it. This back and forth – known as ping pong – can only happen so much before the peers cave and MPs get their way.
So what’s the problem?
By tabling relentless changes to the Bill, the Lords can grind up the whole process and ultimately push back Mr Sunak’s hope of getting the first flights off by the spring.
What has the PM said?
Mr Sunak last week fired a warning shot at the unelected peers not to stand in the way of MPs to thwart the vital Rwanda plan.
