A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Monday March 4, 2024. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)Rishi Sunak’s pledge to stop the small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel is in tatters after hundreds more made the perilous journey.
Figures produced by the Home Office showed that 327 made the crossing on eight boats on Sunday, with a further 401 travelling on seven flimsy vessels yesterday.
It means that so far this year, 2,983 have crossed the Channel on small boats, almost exactly the same as the same time last year, when 2,953 had made the journey from France.
It also means that since he became prime minister in October 2022, more than 40,000 asylum seekers have come to the UK on small boats.
Sunak made stopping the boats one of his five key pledges to voters at the start of 2023, but since then only one - to halve inflation - has actually been achieved.
Commenting on the latest small boats numbers, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This is the prime minister who promised the British people he would stop the boats, but has now seen more than 40,000 arrivals on his watch.
“This is the prime minister who said his strategy was working, yet is presiding over the busiest start to a year on record in terms of Channel crossings.
“Under Rishi Sunak, independent reports show our border security has become a farce, billions are being spent on asylum hotels, and the Home Office has just lost thousands of asylum seekers.
“Everything this prime minister touches fails, and our country deserves better than his weak, incompetent leadership.”
The prime minister’s spokesman said the government’s “urgent priority” was to pass the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which would see asylum seekers deported to the east African country.
The government insists this would act as a deterrent and prevent immigrants from trying to cross the Channel in the first place.
“We are determined to get it through and get flights off the ground as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.
“People smuggling gangs are putting lives at risk and it is the government’s clear priority to stop them. Our bill is about stopping them and saving lives. It’s the toughest legislation ever introduced.”
In a further blow to the PM, the Rwanda legislation was last night defeated five times in the House of Lords.
