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First migrant Channel crossing since Starmer election victory
Number to have crossed so far this year reaches record 13,600 – highest since the first migrants crossed in January 2018
The first migrant boat has crossed the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer’s election victory, as his spokesman admitted it would be a “challenging” summer for the new Government.
A group of migrants reached the midway point of the Channel on Monday morning after being shepherded from the northern French coast by the French navy.
They were then picked up by Hurricane, a Border Force catamaran, and brought to shore at Dover, where they were led to the processing centre wearing orange lifebelts.
They are the first to arrive since Sir Keir won the election and declared that the Rwanda scheme was “dead and buried” within 24 hours. The decision means the migrants will be entitled to seek asylum in the UK rather than face the prospect of being detained and deported to Rwanda.
Their arrival takes the number to have crossed the Channel so far this year to a record 13,600 – the highest since the first migrants crossed in January 2018.
It is about three per cent higher than the 13,172 at the same point in 2022, the previous record year, and eight per cent higher than the 12,503 at the same point in 2023.
The first crossing came a day after Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, announced hundreds of officers would be deployed across Europe to stop people smugglers as part of her plans for a new UK border security command.
Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “The Government has set out its very clear position that, as the Prime Minister said over the weekend, the Rwanda scheme is dead and buried. It started. The scheme was cancelled and flights won’t go ahead.
“The Government is now focused on the work needed to secure our borders and smash the gangs, in addition to recruiting for the border security command.
“The Home Secretary has also commissioned an investigation from the Home Office and the National Crime Agency into the tactics used by people-smuggling gangs to inform a major law enforcement drive over the coming months, and we’re getting to work straight away because we know that this summer will be challenging.”
On additional powers the border security command would have, the spokesman said: “The Home Secretary has previously set out that the new command will have new counter-terror powers to enable search and seizure.”
Last week, The Telegraph revealed that migrants in Dunkirk camps celebrated Labour’s landslide victory and the scrapping of the Rwanda scheme. They vowed to cross the Channel at the “first chance” they got.
On Monday, Ms Cooper also announced that she had ordered an audit of the Rwanda scheme to establish how much it cost and the Government’s liabilities.
Britain can end the Rwanda scheme by terminating the agreement through a break clause that allowed both governments to leave it. Under the clause, the UK Government will not have to make any further payments from the date the break clause is activated.
The UK has already paid £270 million, with the latest £50 million instalment handed over in April. By ending the scheme, it will save two further £50 million payments in 2025 and 2026.