‘Too soon to tell’ if Rwanda deal deters crossings

It is "too soon to tell" if the government's plan to send migrants to Rwanda is curbing Channel crossings, according to a former Border Force boss.

Tonysmithsaidonlytimewill tell if the deal – which has been metcriticismandisalreadyfacing legal challenges – will deter people from making the crossing to the UK but said the "early signs are encouraging".

Although he stressed that the weather has "always been a factor" in affecting the number of migrant crossings taking place.

It comes amid a nine-day stretch between April 20 and April 28 where no crossings have been recorded, with reports of strong winds and choppy seas.

Two longer gaps of 16 and 13 days without crossings have already been recorded so far this year, prior to the Rwanda deal being struck.

On Thursday the government's Nationality and Borders Bill – dubbed the anti-refugee bill by campaigners as it makes itacriminaloffencetoknowingly arrive in the UK illegally and includes powers to process asylum seekers overseas – became law.

Earlier this month Home Secretary Priti Patel signed what she described as a "world-first" agreementwiththeeastafrican nation, which will see it receive asylum seekers deemed by the UK to have arrived "illegally" and therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Defence (MOD) took control of tackling migrant crossings in the Channel.

Mr Smith's book, Changing

Borders–akingdomunlocked, discussing his experience of half a century in border security and immigration, was published last month.

He said it was "too soon to tell" whether news of the Rwanda deal was acting as a deterrent but said: "The early signs are encouraging. Time will tell."

The former Border Force director general added: "The weather has always been a factor. But the Rwanda announcementandthepassingofthenew bill into law yesterday won't have escaped the migrants' attention.”