More than 5,000 small boat migrants have crossed Channel in four months despite crackdown | The Sun
A whopping 5,000 illegal migrants arrived in Britain by small boat in the past four months – a 20 per cent drop on this time last year.
New Home Office figures show on Monday alone 113 migrants were detected by Border Force Officers – an average of 38 per dinghy.
But the numbers are an improvement on the 6,300 people who arrived illegally this time last year.
The stats heap further pressure on Rishi Sunak to finally end the illegal migration farce.
Former Minister Brendan Clarke-Smith told The Sun: “This shows why the issue needs addressing urgently and why the Prime Minister was absolutely right to make this one of his five pledges.
"We have faced nothing but opposition from Labour MPs, activist lawyers and rogue charities who have made it their mission to frustrate our efforts to stop this criminal trade that has already cost so many lives.
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"Stopping the small boats isn’t just the fair thing to do, but is also the humane thing to do.”
The PM made "stop the boats" one of five pledges to define his leadership earlier this year.
A record 45,755 migrants made the dangerous crossing in 2022.
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But the flagship Illegal Migration Bill is still making its way through Parliament.
And it's expected to be held up by lefty lawyers using the courts to keep migrants in Britain.
Last week Mr Sunak admitted small boat migrants could STILL be arriving by the time of the next general election.
In an interview with Conservative Home, the PM conceded the Bill won't work "overnight".
And he refused to promise channel crossings will stop in time for a late 2024 general election.
Mr Sunak said: "It is a complicated problem where there's no single, simple solution that will fix it and I've also said it won't happen overnight.
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"People should know it's very important to me, it's hugely important to the country that we need to fix the system, as a matter of fairness.
"It's not fair that people are breaking the rules and coming here illegally."
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