Channel crossings top 10,000 since Labour came to power – The Irish News

Since Labour won the general election, more than 10,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.

Figures from the Ministry of the Interior show that 65 migrants made the journey on Monday in two boats, bringing the provisional total for this year so far to 23,598.

The latest border crossings mean 10,024 people have arrived since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister on July 4.

The total for 2024 so far is 1% lower than the same period last year (23,940) and 21% lower than the same period in 2022 (29,783).

The figures come after a spate of deaths in the Channel over the weekend and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announcing £75 million to boost Border Force numbers as part of the government’s plans to tackle people smugglers, using money from the scrapped Rwanda deportation plan.

The money will also pay for hidden cameras and better surveillance technology, as the Home Office sets up a new Border Security Command, headed by a former police chief, to speed up investigations and increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions.

Earlier this year it was also announced that an additional 100 specialist detectives would be assigned to the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of efforts to curb Channel crossings.

Meanwhile, during a visit to Rome, the prime minister said he was “very interested” in Italy’s efforts to curb the level of illegal immigration.

The government is keen to understand the “drastic decline” in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Italy, he added, amid Labour’s efforts to tackle criminal gangs involved in people smuggling.

But Borders and Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said her meeting with the Italian prime minister should not be seen as an endorsement of all her immigration policies. Speaking to Sky News, she said: “But we are meeting a G7 country and a NATO member to see how we can work together across the border to tackle some of these despicable people smuggling gangs.”

She suggested that the UK should first look at whether Italy’s plans to process asylum seekers in Albania are working before deciding whether to implement a similar policy.

“First of all, we don’t know if it’s going to work yet, because it hasn’t started yet. A lot of this is being portrayed as if it’s already a success, but the fact is that it hasn’t started yet.

“We’ll see how it works. But what we’ve said is that any scheme we come up with for offshore processing or anything else has to be workable, it has to be cost-effective and it has to be consistent with international law as well,” she told Times Radio.

The latest deaths in the Channel came after more than 1,000 people made the crossing last weekend.

The French coast guard said there were 53 migrants on board a boat that ran aground on rocks off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France overnight.

Most of the group was rescued. Six people, including a 10-month-old baby who was taken to hospital with hypothermia, died. Eight men died.

According to the French coast guard, more than 200 people were rescued from the Channel in the 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday.

The tragedy occurred less than two weeks ago, when another boat was torn apart while crossing the Channel, killing 12 people, including a pregnant woman and six children.

Downing Street said the government was tackling the crossings “on all fronts” and that “immediate work has been carried out”.

This includes “reopening asylum applications while people were in hotels without their cases being considered” and sending back 3,000 migrants this summer, a spokeswoman added.