‘Death trap' boats overloaded with migrants surge under Starmer
The number of overloaded dinghies crossing the Channel with more than 80 migrants on board has trebled in a year, Home Office figures have revealed.
Ruthless people-smuggling gangs are cramming ever increasing numbers of people into flimsy dinghies in an attempt to maximise profits, the data showed.
Some 33 small boats carrying more than 80 migrants were intercepted in the Channel in the year to April – up from 11 in the previous year and only one in the 12 months to April 2023.
The number of dinghies with 70 to 79 people on board also increased nearly four-fold, from 35 to 123 in a year.
Ministers have claimed the rising numbers are a consequence of an international crackdown on supply chains from China and in Europe, which has restricted smugglers' access to boats, engines and life jackets.
'We call them small boats, but honestly, they're not worthy of the name boat,' Sir Keir Starmer has previously said. 'To me, they look like death traps, flimsy rubber, no firm structure. You wouldn't even let your children climb aboard, even for a second, in shallow water.'
At least 82 people, including 14 children, died trying to cross the Channel last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
They lost their lives not only through drowning or hypothermia but also after being crushed inside boats that collapse in on themselves because they do not have wooden bases. Women and children crammed into the well of a boat are often the most vulnerable.
As the Home Office statistics were published on Tuesday, two Afghans were jailed for eight months for piloting a dinghy across the Channel from France in a crossing attempt that saw a woman and child crushed to death.
Shah Salim Sajjadi, 38, and Safiollah Mohammadi, 25, were arrested after a vessel packed with more than 70 people arrived into UK waters on May 21.
Shortly after its departure from a beach near Calais earlier in the day, a woman and child had been pulled off the overcrowded boat by a French coastal patrol vessel but were declared dead.
The Home Office data showed that the number of boats with 60 to 69 migrants on board increased from 118 in the year to April 2024 to 189 in the year to this April. This was up from 50 in 2023 and 13 in 2022. The number of boats with fewer than 60 people in them fell from 450 to 393.
The figures also revealed that the surge in Channel migrants under Sir Keir could be partly blamed on the weather. There were 149 red days with calm seas suitable for crossings from the election last July to the end of this April.
That was nearly double the 77 red days in the same period in the previous year under Rishi Sunak.
It meant there were 33,183 migrant crossings on red days under Labour, compared with 21,139 under Mr Sunak – a 57 per cent increase. So far this year, there have been a record 14,812 migrants reaching the UK, the highest ever recorded in the first five months of a year and up 42 per cent on this time last year.
According to the data, there were 60 red days between Jan 1 and April 30 this year, when factors such as wind speed, wave height and the likelihood of rain meant crossings were classed as 'likely' or 'highly likely'.
Some 11,074 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel during these four months.
There were 27 red days in the same period last year, less than half the number, with 7,567 crossings recorded – nearly a third lower than the total for this year.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, 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.
'They should never have cancelled the Rwanda removals deterrent before it even started. That's why 2025 is the worst year in history for illegal crossings – not the weather. 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.'
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 to 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 recent trends in conditions.
If the probability of migrant activity in the Channel is greater than 55 per cent, crossings are classed as 'likely' or 'highly likely' (a red day). If the probability of activity is less than 35 per cent, crossings are considered 'unlikely' or 'highly unlikely' (a green day).
Red days accounted for 35 per cent of all days and 84 per cent of total arrivals between May 2021 and April this year. A further 11 per cent of arrivals occurred on amber days and five per cent of arrivals on green days.
All assessments are based on data recorded in the Dover Strait and do not consider other factors that can influence the number of arrivals, such as the availability of boats.
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