New record as 482 migrants cross Channel in a single day
THE record for small boat arrivals across the Channel has been smashed – with 482 migrants reaching Britain in just one day.
Wednesday’s record brought the total to have arrived since this year to 10,222 – also a new high.
By comparison, 8,410 Channel migrants reached the UK last year, up from just 1,850 in the previous 12 months.
Home Secretary Priti Patel dispatched the immigration minister to France last night as the crisis escalated.
Chris Philp described the ‘surge’ in illegal crossings as ‘unacceptable’.
He added that he would attempt to ensure a new £54million handout to France from the UK taxpayer would ‘deliver results’. There were between 200 and 300 further arrivals yesterday, according to witnesses, but the figures had not been confirmed by the Home Office last night.
Mr Philp and the Home Office’s clanAGED destine Channel threat commander, Dan O’Mahoney, joined a French beach patrol yesterday and heard from police officers how people smugglers are deploying increasingly evasive tactics.
‘In recent months we have seen a surge in illegal migration across Europe and the number of crossings we have seen over the last few weeks is simply unacceptable,’ Mr Philp said.
‘Ruthless criminals are treating people like human cargo, smuggling them across borders. They have no care for human life and are taking riskier and longer crossings.’
He added: ‘I’m in France to meet with French law enforcement and make sure the new funding we have provided, which has doubled patrols and meant greater intelligence sharing, delivers results.’
Last month Miss Patel and French interior minister Gérald Darmanin signed an agreement to tackle small boat crossings.
The British taxpayer will give France £54million for extra security measures, on top of £144million handed over since 2015. The UK Border Force intercepted 21 boats on Wednesday with 482 migrants aboard.
The previous daily record was set on July 19 when 430 arrived. Conservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke said of the figures: ‘It’s outrageous and can’t carry on like this. I have long said that a new approach is needed urgently on the small boats crossings. To stop boats leaving France in the first place, turn boats around in the Channel and make returns.’
Miss Patel has published legislation aimed to deter Channel crossings by introducing a twotier asylum system for those who arrive by legal and illegal routes, but it is not expected to come into force until the winter at the earliest.
This week Miss Patel visited an asylum reception centre in Greece and joined the Hellenic Coastguard on patrol in the Aegean. It has been accused of deploying hard-line tactics against migrants attempting to reach Europe.
Her fact-finding mission to the Greek government’s recentlycompleted processing centre on the island of Samos is expected to feed into Home Office plans to build similar centres here.
‘It can’t carry on like this’