The number of people who have crossed the Channel illegally aboard small boats since the start of the year has increased by 41.7% compared to 2023, reaching a record level, according to an AFP count on Monday based on data British officials. In the first quarter of 2024, 5,373 people made the dangerous crossing illegally, compared to 3,793 in the first quarter of 2023. This is a record figure for the period.
Fighting against channel crossings, a priority for Rishi Sunak
In the month of March alone this year, the figure rose to 3,118 with a clear increase noted in recent days. On Sunday alone, 442 people reached the English coast aboard nine boats, fragile inflatable boats that are often overloaded, and 349 were counted the day before. Since the start of the year, at least seven migrants, including a seven-year-old girl and a 14-year-old teenager, have died at sea and on a canal while trying to reach England.
In 2023, nearly 30,000 migrants crossed the Channel illegally, a figure down sharply compared to the record reached in 2022 (45,000), which the government highlights in its report. Since arriving at Downing Street a year and a half ago, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made the fight against irregular immigration one of his priorities, hammering home his promise to “stop the boats”. Any increase in Channel crossings is likely to further weaken the Conservatives a few months before the legislative elections where polls predict an overwhelming victory for the Labor opposition led by Keir Starmer.
The expulsion of migrants to Rwanda is still debated
A vast study carried out among 15,000 respondents published this weekend not only gives Labor a 19-point lead (an order of magnitude observed for months), but indicates that the Conservatives would fall below the 100 MP mark (out of 650 at the House of Commons), compared to 348 currently. Another, out of 18,000 respondents, even raises the possibility of a Parliament which would only have 80 Tory deputies. Currently being examined in Parliament, the government’s controversial bill to expel migrants to Rwanda is encountering resistance from the upper house, that of the Lords, which wishes to soften this text.
A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry stressed on Sunday that “the unacceptable number of people who continue to cross the Channel demonstrates why we must depart flights to Rwanda as soon as possible.”