Functioning asylum system would deter migrant Channel crossings, says NCA boss

An asylum system that works “quickly and effectively” would deter migrant Channel crossings, the head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Graeme Biggar discussed what could help to curb the dangerous journeys as the law enforcement agency repeated concerns of this being a “persistent and high-volume threat”.

The number of people attempting the journey from France, alongside tactics from people smugglers which see migrants “wading out to boats or transferring from taxi boats”, has “increased the likelihood of fatalities”, the NCA’s threat assessment said.

The International Organisation for Migration, which records Channel crossing deaths as part of its Missing Migrant Project, estimates 226 people including 35 children are missing or have died after attempting the crossing as of January this year.

According to the French coastguard, there have been at least 19 deaths in 2024, including nine since the start of July. Last year, 12 migrants are thought to have died or were recorded as missing.

Asked what he thought would happen after Sir Keir Starmer scrapped Conservative plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda when Labour won the election, Mr Biggar told reporters: “We have never taken a view on or set out a view on Rwanda as a particular part of that deterrent, that’s been implied by others that we have but is not the case.

“We have consistently said that a deterrent needs to be part of the response. We haven’t commented on Rwanda. Deterrence can take lots of different forms.

“An asylum system that works quickly and effectively and results in returns is also a deterrent. I won’t get into commenting on government policy but I don’t think there is a difference of view between us or them on the importance of having a deterrent and the importance of having an asylum system that works well as part of that.”

He said the deaths were in the wake of “more people being put on to smaller and flimsier boats” as the average number of people on board over the last month approaches 60.

“That is not because the boats have got bigger, it’s because they are packing. So originally, three or four years ago, it was 12 people on the boat, roughly, and they were better designed ribs and the design of boats did change, but that’s not happened over the last few months.

“They are just trying to pack more and more people on. And of course, that increases the risk to all of those individuals,” he said.

The risk is a “very strong reason why we are so determined to try and tackle this, because it is a hideous number of deaths of people trying to reach us off shores”, he added.

More than 18,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel.

Home Office figures show 107 people made the journey on Wednesday in two boats, taking the provisional total for 2024 to 18,574.

This is up 11% on the number of crossings this time last year (16,790) but down 8% on the 20,279 recorded at the same point in 2022, PA news agency analysis of government figures shows.

NCA efforts to disrupt the supply for people smugglers have seen 400 boats or engines seized in the last year which Mr Biggar suggested could have helped prevent around 24,000 crossings.

The cost of buying an engine has increased fivefold while the cost to a migrant paying people smugglers to facilitate a crossing has risen fourfold, he said. The NCA estimates asylum seekers pay several thousand pounds for a crossing.