Channel migrant crossings top 20,000 since Starmer became Prime Minister
More than 20,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.
Home Office figures expected to be released on Monday will show that the total has topped 20,000 crossings since Sir Keir entered Number 10 in July.
Some 50,637 arrivals were recorded during Rishi Sunak’s premiership, which began on October 25 2022.
It took around eight-and-a-half months for migrant crossings to top 20,000 after Sunak became prime minister.
His tenure began in the autumn, meaning his first few months in power coincided with winter weather conditions when typically fewer crossings take place.
By contrast, Sir Keir took on the role in the middle of the summer period when better weather means crossings are at their most frequent.
It took about five months for migrant crossings to hit 20,000 after he came to power.
Speaking on the Conservatives' immigration record, a Labour source said: "We will not repeat those same mistakes, and nor will we let the Tories forget them."
The source added: “The country voted for change. The Home Secretary went to Iraq last week to sign a world-first deal on tackling these evil smuggling gangs that facilitate these Channel crossings.
“The Tories’ gimmicks like Rwanda didn’t work, the former immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, admitted that. We have to smash the gangs, secure our borders, tackling this problem upstream.”
It comes after the Prime Minister announced a major overhaul of the immigration system and accused the Conservatives of running “a one-nation experiment in open borders” amid concerns over the number of people legally arriving in the UK.
Sir Keir said his Government had inherited an “utter mess” in the Home Office and new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch admitted her party had failed on migration.
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The Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference: “Let me say directly to the people watching: where the last government failed you, this one will not. They drove immigration numbers up. We will get them down.”
Recent figures showed the cost of the UK’s asylum system has risen to £5 billion, the highest level of Home Office spending on record and up by more than a third in a year.
Other data showed 35,651 asylum seekers were being housed in UK hotels at the end of September, up more than 6,000 since the end of June, signalling the first quarterly rise for a year.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a “landmark” deal with Iraq, intended to crack down on people-smuggling and boost border security.
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