English Channel: Priti Patel accused of ‘incompetence’ as crossings pass record of 20,000 this year

Priti Patel has been accused of incompetence after the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats passed a new record.

At least 20,000 migrants, mostly believed to be asylum seekers, have made the treacherous journey so far this year.

Numbers have risen dramatically since the home secretary vowed to make the route unviable in August 2020, despite the government paying France millions to increase security on its northern coast.

Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, the shadow home secretary, said: “The home secretary has been in post for over two years and has – repeatedly – committed to stopping Channel crossings in small boats by making the route ‘unviable’.

“Yet we have seen unprecedented numbers making the journey, with a staggering 20,000 for this year alone. The home secretary’s approach has, once again, failed to deliver.

“Labour have been saying for some time that the government needs an effective deal with the French authorities to establish safe and legal routes, and [to] reopen the Department for International Development, the government department that addresses why people flee their homes in the first place.

“Instead we see the tragic results of government incompetence.”

Officials attribute the rise to a combination of factors, including a fall in passenger ferry and freight traffic across the Channel during the coronavirus pandemic, and operations targeting lorries causing smugglers to use different methods.

Ministers are pushing for new laws to criminalise asylum seekers arriving by boat, despite the United Nations warning that the plans are unlawful and questions over whether they will work as a deterrent.

The Nationality and Borders Bill would also give Border Force officers partial legal immunity for causing drownings during planned pushback operations.

Crossings show little sign of slowing, with 456 people rescued or intercepted by British authorities on Tuesday, taking the total for 2021 to an estimated 20,200 – more than double the total for the whole of 2020.

French authorities also prevented 343 people from reaching the UK on Tuesday.

It comes a week after several migrants were feared to have been lost at sea while attempting the journey.

Two Somali men were rescued off the coast of Harwich on 25 October, but an unknown number of people travelling with them were lost.

Ms Patel defended her approach while being questioned by a parliamentary committee last week, claiming that planned pushback operations would “save lives” rather than endanger people.

She said the government would “never do anything to put the safety of people’s lives at risk”.

“We don’t want to see people dying at sea and I’m very vocal about this, but at the same time I’m unapologetic about our determination as a government to stop the people trafficking and putting people in boats,” the home secretary added.

“We’re not here to threaten lives, we’re here to save lives and make sure that people’s lives are not put at risk.”

A UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) official previously said pushbacks in the English Channel would “unavoidably” put lives at risk and may not work as a deterrent.

A Home Office impact assessment of the Nationality and Borders Bill, which contains the government’s plans for the Channel and wider asylum changes, said focusing on small boats could encourage “riskier means of entering the UK”.

Responding to government claims that its plans will deter dangerous sea crossings, the document said: “Evidence supporting the effectiveness of this approach is limited.”

The government has changed its immigration rules to mean that it can declare asylum applications from people who have travelled through EU member states on their way to Britain “inadmissible”.

But in the course of Brexit, the UK lost access to an EU-wide returns agreement allowing asylum seekers to be transferred back to countries including France, Italy and Spain.

The Home Office said that 16,000 crossing attempts had been prevented this year through work with the French authorities.

Dan O’Mahoney, clandestine Channel threat commander, said: “These journeys are illegal, dangerous, unnecessary and facilitated by violent criminal gangs profiting from misery.

“We are working with the French to stop boats leaving their beaches and crack down on the criminals driving these crossings.

“People should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. The government’s new plan for immigration will fix the system, making it firm on those who abuse it and fair on those in genuine need.”