The number of Channel migrants arriving in Britain in 2024 has surpassed the total for the whole of last year, according to GB News. 55 migrants arrived on the shores of Dover this afternoon, bringing the total illegal crossings for this year to a whopping 29,451. The overall for 2023 was 29,437. So much for smashing the gangs…
Sky News aired a revealing report today, featuring an interview with a 24-year-old migrant who had been staying at a Hull hotel that was targeted during the summer riots. The man, who arrived in the UK from Yemen a few months before via a small boat across the Channel, praised the Labour government for granting him the right to “remain to live” in the UK, securing his residency status. He said he was “happy” that Labour is in power:
“The previous government, they wanted to deport us but now they are making the procedure easier for us.”
Meanwhile, latest ONS figures show that the UK’s population has increased by 1% – the largest increase on record since 1971 – as 662,400 more people are now living in Britain thanks to net migration. Labour’s pledge to cut migration and crack down on Channel crossings was always an empty promise…
Yvette Cooper delivered her conference speech, lauding the triumph of Labour’s Border Security Command, scrapping the Rwanda scheme and harking on about her “serious government” knowing “that immigration is important”. So far, Labour’s “tough” stance on migration hasn’t exactly been a roaring success…
This weekend, 1,424 migrants crossed the English Channel, bringing the total this year so far to over 25,000 – at this pace, figures will soon soar past last year’s tally. Meanwhile, Asylum minister Angela Eagle admitted to Labour conference that one in five small boat migrants are claiming they are children, meaning border control are much more lenient and migrants “get a better deal”. This comes as a leading EU asylum expert, Gerald Knaus, has said the Rwanda scheme “would have worked”. Not something the Home Secretary should be touting as a successful scrap just yet then. No wonder Cooper kept her speech rather short today…
Home Office statistics released this morning show that in the twelve-month period from June 2023 to 2024, migrant returns rose by a fifth, enforced returns rose by a half and “irregular arrivals” fell by 26%. There was also a 36% reduction in the asylum backlog. Dependents of those on study visas are also down 81% over the first six months of this year. Not bad…
Reviewing the figures, Sky News has pointed out that it’s difficult to argue that the plan wasn’t working:
“If you just look at the cold hard facts… a 12-month period entirely under the Conservative government and those figures going down, it could be argued that actually maybe it was working. We know that they put in certain policies especially around student visas and the dependence of student visas but also interestingly there’s some figures around the enforcement of returns so 48% increase in that now that’s quite a lot.“
Cleverly has done a victory lap this morning:“That’s the inheritance I left Labour.” Sky helpfully notes that Sunak would have had a rate cut, immigration success and small boat crossings reduced had he not decided to go in July: “Rishi might be sitting this morning thinking to himself – ‘hmmm, maybe that was a mistake…’” Recriminations over that decision are far from forgotten…
The Home Office says that 492 migrants arrived on nine small boats on Saturday, which brings the seven-day total to a record high of 1,427 under Starmer. 19,066 have arrived in total this year…
Labour has failed to hire a Border Security Commander to ‘smash the gangs’ after getting the snub from ex-terror cop Neil Basu and offering to pay whoever takes the job a hefty £200,000. Meanwhile, immigration has returned as the top issue for the country for the first time since 2016 according to Ipsos‘ tracker. Not going away…
It’s now 40 days since Yvette Cooper announced the launch of Labour’s ‘new Border Security Command’ which was touted during the election as Starmer’s key to ‘smashing the gangs’ and solving small boat crossings. Labour says the entire project relies on having an “exceptional leader” to do all the work:
“Reporting directly to the Home Secretary, the Border Security Commander will provide strategic direction to work across agencies, drawing together the work of the National Crime Agency (NCA), intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force, to better protect our borders and go after the smuggling gangs facilitating small boat crossings.”
The only problem with the commander is – there still isn’t one. After former terror cop Neil Basu snubbed Starmer by refusing the position the government has failed to produce a plan B. The ‘command’ is so far exactly the same as the one set up by the Tories, with no additional officials. Labour has had to externally open up applications for the position as boat crossings tick up to their highest levels under the new government. Good luck finding anyone willing to take that job…
