Total of Channel migrants arriving in UK tops 20,000 in 2023: Five boats carrying another 300 arrived on Tuesday (with the help of the French navy)
- Yesterday’s arrivals take the provisional total for 2023 to date to 20,101
More than 20,000 migrants have now arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel after 300 people arrived yesterday in five boats – seemingly ‘escorted’ by a French patrol vessel.
Pictures from one of the crossings yesterday, show a dinghy packed with men and boys, some without lifejackets, perched on the sides while their legs dangled in the water.
According to witnesses, a nearby French patrol vessel appeared to be escorting and monitoring the boat as it floated into UK waters towards Dover before it was met by Border Force and later taken ashore at the Kent port.
Yesterday’s arrivals take the provisional total for 2023 to date to 20,101, the Home Office data shows which is around 20% down on this time last year when more than 25,000 people had already made the journey, it has been reported.
There have been 5,369 people detected crossing the Channel so far this month, compared with 8,631 recorded in the whole of August 2022.
Over 20,000 people have made the perilous crossing so far this year
A group of people thought to be migrants are escorted by a French patrol vessel as they cross the Channel in a small boat travelling from the coast of France yesterday
Yesterday’s arrivals take the provisional total for 2023 to date to 20,101, the Home Office data shows
Pictures of some of Tuesday’s arrivals showed a dinghy packed with men and boys, some without lifejackets, perched on the sides while their legs dangled in the water
Pictures of some of Tuesday’s arrivals showed a dinghy packed with men and boys, some without lifejackets, perched on the sides while their legs dangled in the water.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Prime Minister had ‘failed to get a grip’ on Channel crossings.
READ MORE: Bon voyage! French patrol vessel ‘escorts migrant boat’ as it floats into UK waters towards Dover before being picked up by Border Force
But Mr Sunak continued to defend his ‘stop the boats’ plan as he faced questions from broadcasters and insisted the Government was making progress.
He urged people to ‘have confidence’ in his plan as he claimed the lower number of Channel crossings compared to last year showed it was ‘working’.
Mr Sunak previously played down suggestions that the lower number of crossings compared with last year was linked to poor weather conditions rather than policy decisions.
But this summer has seen more unsettled weather compared with last year when there was a spike in crossings in August.
While June 2023 was the warmest on record, July and August have been much more unsettled, with a sequence of low pressure bringing wind and rain.
Summer 2022 was the fourth warmest on record for the UK and the warmest on record for England, with heatwaves in each of the three months.
Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said: ‘This is another reminder that the Government’s failing migration policies won’t stop people making perilous journeys to seek asylum.’
Ms Cooper told PA: ‘Rishi Sunak made this his top priority. He told us that his plan was working.
‘And yet these figures show that he’s completely failed to get a grip.
‘The Tories’ boats chaos is continuing, that’s undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.
‘In the space of just a few years, the Conservatives have let criminal gangs take hold along the Channel.
‘What we need is a proper plan to go after those criminal gangs and to stop the dangerous crossings that are putting lives at risk. That is what Labour would do.’
There have been 5,369 people detected crossing the Channel so far this month, compared with 8,631 recorded in the whole of August 2022
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.
‘Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers.
‘The Government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country.’
READ MORE: Migrants arriving into UK across the English Channel could be forced to wear electronic tags under new ‘stop the boats’ proposals
The total number of small boat arrivals so far this year is around 20% below the equivalent number at this point last year.
Just over 25,000 people had made the crossing by August 29 2022, compared with 20,101 detected so far in 2023.
There have been 5,369 small boat arrivals so far this month, compared with 8,631 in the whole of August 2022.
The new arrivals tally comes after it was revealed migrants who land in the UK in small boats could be forced to wear electronic tags under Home Office proposals.
UK charity Refugee Council criticised the plan, claiming it would result in vulnerable people in search of safety being ‘treated as mere objects’.
A total of 175,457 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application in the UK at the end of June 2023, up 44 per cent from 122,213 at the end of June 2022. This was the highest figure since current records began in 2010.
Figures also show the number of asylum seekers waiting more than six months for an initial decision stood at 139,961 at the end of June, up 57 per cent year on year from 89,231 and another record.
The idea to tag migrants, first mooted more than a year ago, has resurfaced as Rishi Sunak attempts to get a handle on immigration and stop people illegally gaining entry to the UK.
The migrants would be GPS tracked in real time and required to report via text message or in person to immigration officers multiple times a day, the Telegraph reported.
Border Force officials are pictured helping people ashore in Dover, Kent, yesterday
UK charity Refugee Council criticised the plan to tag migrants, claiming it would result in vulnerable people in search of safety being ‘treated as mere objects’
Any attempt to remove the tag and abscond would result in any right to bail or to remain in the UK being automatically withdrawn.
A source told The Telegraph : ‘Tagging is being discussed as an option.’
Refugee Council Chief executive Enver Solomon told The Independent: ‘It’s treating people as mere objects rather than vulnerable men, women and children in search of safety who should always be treated with compassion and humanity, in the same way we welcomed Ukrainian refugees.
‘This is not who we are as a country nor the Britain we aspire to be.’
Source: Read Full Article
