Record broken as 180 migrants cross Channel in just one day

A RECORD 180 people illegally crossed the English Channel in 15 separate boats on Sunday, the Home Secretary has confirmed, saying the situation “simply cannot be allowed to go on”.

Priti Patel was in France at the weekend signing a new joint intelligence agreement with the French Interior Minister, but while she headed towards the continent, 400 migrants took to the water in the other direction.

Some 200 were intercepted by French authorities and taken back to shore.

Yesterday, four more small boats were brought to Dover with around 30 people on board.

Already this year, 2,660 people have made the crossing and reached the UK – more than during the whole of 2019. The previous one-day record was 166 on June 3, with 64 people in one boat.

The trigger for the mass crossing is thought to be a huge police operation inside makeshift migrant camps dotted around Calais.

More than 500 people were forcibly removed from the camps by riot police, who fired tear gas when they were pelted with rocks.

The migrants were taken to reception centres around the Haut de France region in one of the biggest operations since the clear-out of the so-called Calais “jungle” in 2016.

This, combined with good weather, calm seas and a lack of other viable transport across the Channel because of the pandemic meant that migrants flocked to the water.

Ms Patel said: “I have signed an agreement with the French to create a joint intelligence cell which will crack down on the gangs behind this vile people-smuggling operation and impressed on my French counterpart the need to stop these illegal crossings for the benefit of both our countries.”

She added: “This simply cannot be allowed to go on.”