More than 10,000 illegal immigrants have been detected arriving in the UK on small boats this year—with 1,100 in the past three days.
The jump in arrivals is still 1,000 fewer than those recorded at the same time in 2022.
According to Home Office data charting the daily journeys, some 486 people made the dangerous journey across the English Channel on Friday, with a further 374 on Saturday.
A reported total of 2,862 immigrants arrived within eight days between June 10 and 18 following a quieter spell earlier this month.
The total of those crossing the Channel for 2023 stands at a provisional 10,472.
This includes 549 crossings on Sunday June 11, the highest number on a single day so far this year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping crossings by small boats one of his priorities for the year, along with cutting NHS waiting lists, growing the economy, halving inflation, and reducing the national debt.
Seven boats were detected on Sunday, which suggests an average of around 48 people crossed the Channel per boat.
‘Damning’ Reports
The latest figures have been described as a “dismal failure” for Sunak by shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.The Labour MP said it followed a week of “damning” official reports on the surging backlog, spiralling hotel costs, and failing border security.
“Rishi Sunak’s small boats plan is disintegrating before the public’s eyes, and he has no idea of how to turn it around,” she said on Monday.
“Labour has a serious plan to fix the Tories small boats chaos, fast-tracking safe countries’ cases to clear the backlog and end hotel use and setting up a cross-border police unit to stop people smuggler gangs.”
Last week, a scathing report into the Home Office’s handling of the small boats crisis warned the UK may not be able to cope with a predicted summer surge of illegal immigrants.
David Neal, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, said there is a “very real danger” of a build-up at the government’s main processing centre for Channel arrivals in Kent, owing to a lack of outgoing accommodation.
Neal said he’d received “no clear answer” from senior officials as to where tens of thousands of people expected to arrive between 2023 and 2024 will be accommodated.
“I do not think that anyone knows yet,” he said. “This is a considerable risk.”
Failing Housing Targets
In a separate report released by the National Audit Office (NAO), it said government was “failing to secure enough accommodation to end the use of hotels” for illegal immigrants.The spending watchdog revealed that the Home Office had been forced to abandon its target of finding 500 extra spaces a week in council accommodation into which to transfer immigrants from hotels.
In the year ending this April, it had found only 48 extra council spaces a week.
“The Home Office now acknowledges that it is unlikely to achieve its accommodation targets and is looking at how it can increase its supply and identify different sources of accommodation,” said the NAO report.
Responding to the latest small boats figures, a Home Office spokesperson said: “The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.
“Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers.
“The government has gone further by introducing legislation which will ensure that those people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country.”
