Labour win means ‘open season’ for Channel migrant crossings, claim Tories

Labour’s election landslide has led to “open season” for Channel migrant crossings, senior Tories claimed after the number of arrivals so far this year passed 14,000.

Home Office figures showed 419 people made the journey in six boats on Tuesday, suggesting an average of around 70 per boat and taking the provisional total for the year to date to 14,058.

This is 10 per cent higher than the number recorded this time last year – 12,772 – and up six per cent on the same period in 2022, when the figure stood at 13,318, according to government data.

It means that 484 migrants have reached the UK since Sir Keir Starmer was elected with a 172-seat majority and quickly scrapped Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation scheme.

Tories said Tuesday’s crossings were a precursor to a summer surge after claims by some migrants that they were holding back until Labour had won and the Rwanda scheme was ditched.

Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Scrapping Rwanda without a plan was sheer stupidity. Open season has begun. More and more migrants crammed into boats. Smash the gangs? Sir Keir has surrendered to the people-smugglers.”

James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, said: “The illegal migrants who we knew were waiting for a Labour government have got their wish, and at the first break in the weather they have made their move.

“The people-smugglers are evil but they aren’t stupid. They have seen the first steps taken by this Labour government and moved quickly to cash in, cramming more and more vulnerable people into dangerous small boats. Without any deterrent, we can sadly only expect to see more of the same in future.”

Labour has called the Rwanda scheme a gimmick that would only have allowed the Government to deport as little as one per cent of the migrants who have entered the UK illegally.

There are some 90,000 people in what Labour has called a “perma-backlog”, with more than a third being housed in hotels at a cost of around £4 million a day.

Labour will divert the £75 million saved from scrapping the scheme in the first year to set up a new border security command to deploy officers from the National Crime Agency, Border Force and MI5 to smash the people-smuggling gangs.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said: “Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.

“We can’t carry on like this. We need to tackle the root of the problem, going after these dangerous criminals and bringing them to justice.

“The border security command will be a major step change in UK enforcement efforts to tackle organised immigration crime, drawing on substantial resources to work across Europe and beyond to disrupt trafficking networks and to coordinate with prosecutors in Europe to deliver justice.”