Hundreds of migrants make break across Channel
Nine boats set off for Britain after storms stopped crossings for 28 days
Hundreds of migrants crossed the Channel on Saturday, ending the longest break in small-boat arrivals since they started seven years ago.
At least 600 and up to 700 migrants in nine boats had embarked on the crossing by lunchtime, with more than 100 brought ashore in Dover, Kent, by the Border Force patrol vessel Hurricane.
The influx came as the Home Office confirmed that not a single migrant boat had crossed the Channel for 28 days from Nov 14 – the longest pause in arrivals since Oct 2018, when there was a 48-day gap.
December is traditionally one of the quietest months for Channel crossings, with a combination of low temperatures, poor visibility, less daylight and stormy weather making the journey particularly difficult. The most arrivals recorded in a December was 3,254 in 2024.
Saturday’s surge in boats after the lull prompted an “indigo” alert, with four of the five Border Force vessels put to sea: Hurricane, Ranger, Typhoon and Volunteer.
Coastguard and French SAR vessels, including the Abeille Normandie, also helped in the rescue of migrants who had taken advantage of clear blue skies and a flat, calm sea to make their crossings.
This year is on course to record the second-highest number of Channel crossings, with 39,294 migrants believed to have reached the UK so far.
That is 11 per cent lower than the same point in the record year of 2022, when it reached 44,264 at the same point and went on to hit 45,755 crossings.
This year’s total has already passed that of the previous second-highest year, in 2024, when 36,816 migrants reached the UK.
It comes as France pledged to ramp up efforts to stop the crossings by intercepting small boats at sea for the first time, provided they are not carrying migrants.
Until now, the French have agreed only to block boats and migrants attempting to leave on the beaches. That led to people smugglers using “taxi boats”, which travel along the coast before stopping in shallow waters to pick up asylum seekers trying to cross the Channel.
France’s change in policy came after Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, wrote to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, urging him to back the plan.
In his letter, Sir Keir admitted for the first time that Britain was failing to deter crossings, saying: “It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month … We have no effective deterrent in the Channel.”
The Telegraph: continue reading
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