Channel deaths: Braverman urged to quit after migrants die in crossing tragedy
Home secretary ‘has vilified the very people she now feigns sympathy with’, says PCS
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Your support makes all the difference.A union has called for home secretary Suella Braverman to resign following the deaths of four migrants in the Channel as their boat sank.
Women and children are reportedly among survivors fighting for their lives in hospital after the dinghy capsized in the English Channel in freezing weather in the early hours. A search-and-rescue mission was launched and 43 other people on board were rescued.
Paul O’Connor, of the PCS union, said: “Suella Braverman says her heartfelt thoughts are with all those involved. Those words ring utterly hollow when she has spent her time as home secretary vilifying and demonising the very people she now feigns sympathy with. She should resign in disgrace.”
Ms Braverman told the Commons there would be new legislation to end criminal gangs, but shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said responses by ministers to people-smuggling and trafficking gangs had been too weak, calling for further action.
Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet in Kent, said: “Some of the survivors are still fighting for their lives [in hospital], and I understand that some of them are women and children.”
Read below for how our live coverage unfolded:
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English channel rescue: Four migrants dead and 43 saved in dinghy crossing tragedy- No 10 denies Sunak has ‘blood on hands’ over Channel migrant deaths
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In pictures: Dozens rescued from English Channel
Images have captured what happened during the rescue mission.
They show a group of around a dozen people crowded on an inflatable boat in the dark.
Around 40 people are believed to have been rescued in the mission - including dozens pulled from the water.
ICYMI: Sunak asylum plan violates international law, UN says
The rescue mission comes a day after Rishi Sunak announced plans for tough new asylum rules.
His proposal to deny asylum to migrants arriving in small boats sparked fierce criticism from the United Nations, who said it violates international law.
Read more:
asylum plan by Rishi Sunak violates international law, says UN
‘If you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here,’ prime minister vows
‘Tragedy of government’s own making’, charity says
Steve Crawshaw from Freedom from Torture, said: “This tragedy is of the government’s own making. By shutting down all other means to seek sanctuary, they have left the perilous Channel crossing as the only route available for most people fleeing torture and war to reach the UK. “
Today’s disaster must act as a wake-up call. Policies focused on punishing refugees for seeking safety have failed time and again. The government must abandon gimmicks like the Rwanda plan and work urgently with our international partners to establish safe routes for refugees to reach the UK, or risk further loss of life.”
Boats still in area around Kent
The French coastguard vessel, Kermorvan, looks like it is still out at sea.
As were RNLI lifeboats, as seen below:
Royal Navy vessels were also still in the area off the coast of Kent around midday:
Four deaths confirmed
A UK government spokesperson has confirmed four deaths from the tragedy. “At 0305 today, authorities were alerted to an incident in the Channel concerning a migrant small boat in distress,” they said.
After a coordinated search and rescue operation led by HM Coastguard, it is with regret that there have been 4 confirmed deaths as a result of this incident, investigations are ongoing and we will provide further information in due course.”
The spokesperson added: “This is a truly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the friends and families of all those who have lost their lives today.”
Rescuers save 43 migrants
Emergency services have rescued 43 people from a dingy after four migrants died when their small boat started sinking into the freezing waters of the Channel in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Four migrants dead after crossing English Channel in dinghy during freezing weather
More than 30 of those rescued were pulled from the water
Sunak and Starmer express sorrow
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his “sorrow” at the “capsizing of a small boat” in the English Channel, telling MPs there had been a “tragic loss of human life”.
Sir Keir Starmer said it was “heartbreaking” that there had been more deaths in the Channel.
The Labour leader tweeted: “Heartbreaking that more lives have been lost in the Channel. Thanks to the emergency services for everything they do.”
Debate about lives, not numbers, says archbishop
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the deaths in the Channel showed debates about asylum-seekers were “not about statistics, but precious human lives”.
He said: “I’m praying for the victims of today’s terrible events in the Channel.
“It’s another reminder that debates about asylum seekers are not about statistics, but precious human lives.
“May God comfort those who mourn, those who survived and all those who work to save lives at sea.”
‘More people will die’ without more routes for asylum seekers, charity says
Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive of Refugee Action, said: “This is heartbreaking, and our thoughts go out to the loved ones of people who have died and to refugees everywhere for who this will be retraumatising.
“Let’s be clear, today’s tragedy and those on previous days are predictable and inevitable and caused by hostile government policies – such as those announced yesterday by the Prime Minister – which are designed to keep people out and not keep people safe.”
He added: “The government must create more routes to reach the UK to claim asylum. Until they do, more people will die trying to reach safety here.”
Criminal gangs profiting from lives, says Cooper
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper asked home secretary Suella Braverman how different yesterday’s announcement of a team tackling people-smuggling would be from earlier initiatives.
Ms Cooper said criminal gangs had made money from lives lost today as people drowned.
Far from stopping those criminal gangs, they have grown and grown, and the government had failed to stop the gangs proliferating, she said, and thay had created a multi-million- pound criminal industry.
There have been barely any prosecutions or convictions, or any inroads into the gangs - only three, she said.
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