Channel crossings: Number of migrants arriving in UK since 2018 hits 150,000
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More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the last seven years. Since current records began on January 1 2018, 150,243 people have made the journey, according to PA news agency analysis of Government figures. The milestone was reached when 407 people crossed the Channel in 10 boats on Boxing Day.
On Christmas Day more than 450 people crossed the Channel in 11 boats. It comes after the Home Secretary said the Government had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings, but refused to set a deadline on when a target to see the numbers fall “sharply” would be met.
Yvette Cooper said the UK must “go after” the gangs behind the dangerous crossings, during a visit to Italy where she met the country’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, to discuss migration. As she faced questions from the Commons Home Affairs Committee, which she previously led as chairwoman, for the first time since being appointed Home Secretary, she appeared to rule out creating more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers as a way of preventing crossings.
While the UK would always “need to do its bit”, this was not “an alternative to going after the criminal gangs”, she said. She also told MPs she was “determined to keep making progress” on reducing the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers, saying they were “completely inappropriate and extremely costly”.
