New Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is facing her first small boats crisis this morning – four migrants have died in the English Channel after their boat capsized. Latest Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey across the Channel from France to the UK in six boats on Tuesday, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058…

Reform Party Leader Nigel Farage was straight on the case:

4 deaths in the Channel this morning, the new Government had better start moving fast.

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) July 12, 2024

Meanwhile, the Labour government has started its search for a new border security commander – a plan it trumpeted in the election as its answer to the migration crisis (despite the job already existing). The role has been advertised at £140,000-£200,000, with a very healthy 27% pension, and location is described as ‘flexible’:

“Flexible: including, Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Peterborough, Manchester, Solihull, Sheffield, Croydon and London. Regular travel to London (if based nationally) and overseas will be required.”

Good to see Home Office officials still having the last laugh over their new overlords. The new commander will need a powerful set of binoculars…