Latest news with #ChannelCrossings
Telegraph
an hour ago
- General
- Telegraph
Yvette Cooper faces MPs after record migrant crossings
Yvette Cooper is set to face questions from MPs after record numbers of migrants crossed the Channel over the weekend. Nearly 1,200 made the crossing illegally on Saturday, the highest number of people so far this year. Defence Secretary John Healey later admitted that Britain had 'lost control of its borders'. Ms Cooper, the Home Secretary, will be quizzed by the Home Affairs Committee on issues including small boat crossings at around 2.30. It comes after new Home Office data shows good summer weather could lead to record Channel migrant crossings this year. The number of 'red days' - when Border Force expects a surge in small boats due to calm seas - have been 'unusually high' in 2024-25. Ministers claim the figures go some way to explain why the first five months of this year have seen a record 14,812 crossings, up 42 per cent on the same period in 2024.
The Independent
an hour ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Number of likely days for Channel crossings double compared with previous years
Days when weather conditions are considered favourable for Channel crossings by migrants have been running at more than double the number seen in previous years, new Home Office data shows. There were 60 so-called 'red' days between January 1 and April 30 this year, when factors such as wind speed, wave height and the likelihood of rain meant crossings were classed by officials as 'likely' or 'highly likely'. Some 11,074 migrants arrived in the UK during these four months after crossing the Channel. By contrast, there were 27 red days in the same period last year, less than half the number in 2025, with 7,567 arrivals recorded – nearly a third lower than the total for this year. There were also 27 red days in the first four months of 2022, with 23 red days in 2023, with 6,691 and 5,946 arrivals in these periods, respectively. Assessments of the likelihood of migrant crossings are prepared for the Home Office by the Met Office. The assessments are colour-coded red, amber or green according tothe likelihood of activity based on environmental and other factors, including wave height, surf conditions on beaches, wind speed and direction, the chance of rain, and other weather trends. Red days mean the probability of migrant activity in the Channel is greater than 55%, with crossings classed as 'likely' or 'highly likely'. Green days are determined by the likelihood being less than 35%, with crossings 'unlikely' or 'highly unlikely'. The analysis is based on data recorded in the Dover Strait and does not consider wider factors such as the availability of dinghies. The publication comes just days after 1,195 migrants made the journey to the UK in 19 boats on Saturday, in the highest daily total recorded so far this year. The cumulative total for the year, 14,812, is the highest for the first five months of a year since data collection began in 2018. Reacting to the figures, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'Labour seems to think praying for bad weather is a good border security strategy. 'This is a weak Government, with no plan to end illegal immigrants crossing the Channel. 'Blaming the weather for the highest ever crossing numbers so far this year is the border security equivalent of a lazy student claiming 'the dog ate my homework'. 'This is a clear failure for our weak Prime Minister and his weak Home Secretary.' Mr Philp also said the reason for the 'worst year in history' for Channel crossings was because the Labour government cancelled the Rwanda plan to deter migrants coming to the UK, not the weather. A Home Office spokesman said: 'This government is restoring grip to the broken asylum system it inherited that saw a whole criminal smuggling enterprise allowed to develop, where gangs have been able to exploit periods of good weather to increase the rate of crossings for too long.' The Government has vowed to crack down on people smuggling gangs, including by handing counter terror-style powers to law enforcement agencies under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently going through Parliament. The spokesman added that 9,000 crossings have been prevented from the French coastline this year. Officials are understood to be pessimistic about the prospect of bringing numbers down this year, with measures not expected to start paying off until 2026. On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs the Government is pressing their French counterparts to bring in agreed changes that would allow French police to also take action in the sea when migrants climb into boats from the water. 'A French maritime review is looking at what new operational tactics they will use, and we are urging France to complete this review and implement the changes as swiftly as possible,' she said. 'I have been in touch with the French interior minister who supports stronger action again this weekend, and there are further discussions under way this week.' Elsewhere, the data shows the number of migrants arriving per boat has been on an upward trend since data was first recorded in 2018, when the average for the year was seven. It rose to 11 per boat in 2019, 13 in 2020, 28 in 2021, 41 in 2022, 49 in 2023 and 53 in 2024. So far this year, the average has been 56. Gunes Kalkan, of Safe Passage International, said the rise only increases the risk to people's lives. 'This indicates the Government's approach isn't working, as the smugglers continue to exploit the lack of safe routes for refugees, cramming more and more people dangerously on each boat,' he said. 'But let's always remember these aren't just 'numbers'. People fleeing the horrors of war and persecution are simply seeking a safe life, and often to reunite with family they were torn apart from in the chaos. 'If this Government is serious about saving lives and stopping the smugglers, it must open safe routes and expand refugee family reunion.'
Sky News
8 hours ago
- Climate
- Sky News
Who is the public's favourite (and least favourite) cabinet member?
👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne's on your podcast app👈 Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy serve up their essential guide to the day in British politics. Exclusive polling is announced by Sam and Anne, as they reveal the cabinet's popularity rating according to the public. Also, why is the Home Office today releasing a weather report for weather that's already been and gone? They say warm weather impacts the number of small boat crossings. Is this the Labour government laying the turf, readying the British public for a balmy summer, and with that, days of record Channel crossings?
The Sun
18 hours ago
- General
- The Sun
Labour slammed as ‘pathetic' for trying to blame weather for record numbers of Channel crossings
THE Government was last night accused of a 'pathetic attempt' to blame the weather for record numbers of Channel crossings. Data on how conditions have affected small boat migration over the past three years will be published today for the first time. 3 3 It is expected to show a higher number of 'red days' — where calm seas and sunshine make for smoother crossings — on Sir Keir Starmer's watch as PM. Anger over relentless arrivals has intensified after almost 1,200 migrants made the journey in a single day on Saturday. More than 14,811 have crossed from France this year already — the most in the first five months of any year since the crisis erupted in 2018. Projections show up to 50,000 could arrive by the end of 2025 in what would be a record year. Earlier this year Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said smuggling gangs' operations mean 'our border security ends up being dependent on the weather '. The 20,000 illegal migrants that arrived between Labour's election win last July and December is expected to feature a high number of red days. But ahead of the publication, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp slammed it as a 'pathetic attempt to blame the weather for their total loss of border control'. The PM's spokesman said: 'As the Home Secretary has said before, we have to get to a position where the level of crossings is not reliant on the weather. 'That means breaking the hold that these criminal gangs have established over this trade, and breaking the link between crossings and the weather.' Addressing the mounting fury at the record rate of illegal migration, Sir Keir said: 'You have every right to be angry about small boat crossings. I'm angry too. Starmer 'loses control' as over 1,000 migrants cross Channel in biggest daily total of 2025 – as French cops watch on 'We are ramping up our efforts to smash the people-smuggling gangs at source.' Yesterday The Sun told how Defence Secretary John Healey had admitted that Britain has 'lost control of its borders'.
BBC News
20 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
France reviewing small boat policing tactics, Yvette Cooper says
The French government is reviewing its policies to tighten up policing around small boats, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has told faced criticism following another weekend where record crossings were made across the Channel, with more than 1,000 migrants making the journey on shadow home secretary Chris Philp said French Police continued to stand by and watch as migrants made their way into boats just off the French replied that she was pressing for action on an agreement with French authorities, which would allow police to apprehend migrants in shallow waters. Criminal gangs are exploiting a loophole in French law that prevents police from intervening when migrants are in the water, so people increasingly wait in the surf for a boat to arrive and then clamber Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told the BBC he would close the loophole earlier this year, but the change has yet to be the Commons during Home Office questions, Cooper said: "The French interior minister and the French cabinet have now agreed their rules need to change. "A French maritime review is looking at what new operational tactics they will use, and we are urging France to complete this review and implement the changes as swiftly as possible."I've been in touch with the French interior minister, who supports stronger action, again this weekend and there are further discussions underway this week."Philp suggested the government needed to take a more hardline approach to stop French police standing on beaches and watching small boats sail away."They're not smashing gangs, they're smashing records," he said. Philp added that a recent deal giving EU fishing boats continued access to UK waters until 2038 "should be suspended until the French agree to stop those small boats at sea and prevent illegal immigration". Responding, Cooper pointed out that Philp was a former immigration minister who had not secured action from the said: "This government has reached a new agreement with France and we're now pressing for that to be operationalised as swiftly as possible - but we won't take lessons from a former immigration minister who let legal migration treble and small boat crossings soar more than tenfold on his watch." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
