Nearly 500 migrants cross English Channel in a single day
18 August 2024, 12:38
Nearly 500 migrants crossed the English Channel on Saturday, in a week where hundreds had already made the perilous trip.
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Some 492 people arrived in the UK on small boats on August 17, following the 107 that came on Wednesday and 125 on Monday.
Last Sunday saw 703 people arrive on British shores via the English Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Both of the busiest days for migrant crossings this year came under the previous Conservative government - 882 on June 18 and 711 on May 1.
Calmer weather is better for the crossings, which the migrants make in flimsy rubber dinghies, so people are more likely to risk the trip in those conditions.
Read more: Two migrants die trying to cross English Channel in 'tragic incident'
Migrant says ‘this is for Rishi Sunak’ as dinghy leaves France across Channel
Like the Tories before them, the Labour government has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings by "smashing the gangs" of people smugglers who organise the trips from the European continent.
But unlike the Conservatives, Labour has got rid of the scheme to move illegal immigrants to Rwanda.
Some suggestions had been raised before the Conservatives lost power that the recently-implemented Rwanda scheme was having a deterrent effect.
The Tories have since claimed that by removing this deterrent, Labour have removed a lever to discourage migrants from coming to the UK illegally in small boats.
Keir Starmer's party said that instead of Rwanda, they would boost the Border Security Command, allowing officers in the unit to carry out stop and searches at the border, do financial investigations and issue search and seizure warrants to target organised immigration crime.
Starmer also recently announced £84 million of funding for African and Middle Eastern countries to help tackle the issue at source.
Meanwhile the head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) said that an asylum system that works "quickly and effectively" would deter migrant Channel crossings.
Graeme Biggar discussed what could help to curb the dangerous journeys as the law enforcement agency repeated concerns of this being a "persistent and high-volume threat".
The number of people attempting the journey from France, alongside tactics from people smugglers which see migrants "wading out to boats or transferring from taxi boats", has "increased the likelihood of fatalities", the NCA's threat assessment said.
The International Organisation for Migration, which records Channel crossing deaths as part of its Missing Migrant Project, estimates 226 people including 35 children are missing or have died after attempting the crossing as of January this year.
According to the French coastguard, there have been at least 19 deaths in 2024, including nine since the start of July. Last year, 12 migrants are thought to have died or were recorded as missing.
Asked what he thought would happen after Sir Keir Starmer scrapped Conservative plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda when Labour won the election, Mr Biggar told reporters: "We have never taken a view on or set out a view on Rwanda as a particular part of that deterrent, that's been implied by others that we have but is not the case.
"We have consistently said that a deterrent needs to be part of the response. We haven't commented on Rwanda. Deterrence can take lots of different forms.
"An asylum system that works quickly and effectively and results in returns is also a deterrent. I won't get into commenting on government policy but I don't think there is a difference of view between us or them on the importance of having a deterrent and the importance of having an asylum system that works well as part of that."
