All posts tagged: small boat crossings

The eyewatering cost of returning each dinghy migrant to France | UK | News

The eyewatering cost of returning each dinghy migrant to France | UK | News

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s deal allows the UK to return migrants who arrive illegally across the English Channel to France in exchange for admitting an equivalent number of refugees directly from France who have not attempted the crossing. The average cost of returning a migrant is £48,800, meaning one recent flight could have cost taxpayers up to £1.52 million, according to reports. A recent plane departure from Stansted to Paris, as part of the nation’s one-in-one-out deal with France, carried 32 male migrants, 73 guards and two paramedics. According to analysis by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, the cost of enforced removals has increased from around £15,000 per person in the last decade, reports The Sun. It includes case work, the cost of chartering planes and financial support for migrants once out of the UK. The UK must also cover the cost of transporting migrants to and from France under the one-in-one-out deal. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The one-in-one-out scheme is a failure. “No wonder more illegal immigrants have crossed …

Migrants seen attempting to cross Channel in small boats after record day | Politics | News

Migrants seen attempting to cross Channel in small boats after record day | Politics | News

Migrants have been spotted attempting to cross the Channel in small boats this morning (Image: PA) Border Force is bracing for more Channel migrant arrivals after dozens were spotted leaving a notorious beach in northern France. Scores of asylum seekers were seen piling into a rubber dinghy in Gravelines, northern France, after high winds prevented smugglers from launching boats bound for Britain. French patrol vessels are believed to be shadowing at least two migrant boats in French waters. Border Force was overwhelmed on Wednesday as criminal gangs exploited the hottest day of the year so far to launch dinghies destined for the Kent coast, carrying hundreds of people. The French rescue ship Abeille Normandie even escorted one migrant vessel four miles into British waters because Border Force Volunteer and Border Force Typhoon were already tied up with arrivals. It waited until the British ships were able to come and pick up the migrants onboard. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is to introduce new legislation on migration this week in a bid to take on Reform UK. …

‘Deluded’ Starmer slammed for wild immigration claim – ‘an insult to the British public!’ | Politics | News

‘Deluded’ Starmer slammed for wild immigration claim – ‘an insult to the British public!’ | Politics | News

Sir Keir Starmer has been blasted for claiming immigration was “under control” despite record small boat crossings and public services being pushed to breaking point. The claim was made at a late-night briefing for Labour MPs in Westminster, where the embattled Prime Minister – languishing as the least popular PM in history – attempted to rally his backbenchers. He promised beleaguered MPs that 2026 will be the year Britons see “change and renewal”, claiming the country was moving “in the right direction”. Sir Keir crowed that “immigration is firmly under control” in a speech which drew cheers and applause from his MPs. But critics branded the claims “deluded” and an “insult to the British public”. Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf said Britons could “see record immigration, ongoing small boat crossings, and public services pushed to breaking point”, blasting: “This is not control – it is chaos and deception.” He said: “Reform UK will take back control of Britain’s borders, deport every single person that has arrived in the UK illegally and restore justice.” The scathing attack …