More than 500 migrants crossed the Channel in just one day, taking this year’s total to over 36,000 in a humiliating blow to Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ policy.
According to Home Office figures, 1,659 migrants have arrived in the past three days on 23 boats, with 1,075 people making the perilous crossing in 15 dinghies on Wednesday alone.
It means 36,060 migrants have now crossed the Channel so far this year, bringing the total number to 58,718 since Labour took office.
The Government’s ‘one in, one out’ scheme, launched more than two months ago, was billed as the answer to the crisis.
But, as previously reported, official data shows the scheme has only removed 26 people since it began, while more than 10,000 have arrived.
Wednesday marked the fourth day this year when arrivals topped 1,000, edging closer to the record of 1,305 set in September 2022.
People-smuggling gangs are now using 40ft ‘mega-dinghies’ to cram ever-larger numbers of migrants into deadly crossings.
Border Force boats arrive in Dover filled with migrants as data shows 1,659 crossed the channel in the last three days
It means 36,060 migrants have now crossed the Channel so far this year, bringing the total number to 58,718 since Labour took office
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda asylum deal – which was designed to deter migrants and save lives – as one of his first acts in office.
Labour claims the ‘one in, one out’ scheme will undermine people traffickers’ tactics and ‘smash the gangs’ by persuading would-be migrants that crossing the Channel may be fruitless.
However, the programme has been slow to take off after being mired in legal difficulties and even when fully up and running is expected to remove only around 50 migrants a week.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood previously trumpeted the numbers removed from Britain under the new deal with France, saying: ‘The contrast couldn’t be clearer. The last government’s Rwanda scheme took years and cost hundreds of millions of pounds, and failed to forcefully remove a single person,’ she said.
‘In a matter of weeks, we’ve returned 26 through our historic agreement with France.
‘We must put an end to these dangerous crossings which put lives at risk and money in the pockets of criminal gangs.’
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Labour is swindling the British public. ‘This is just a massive con.
‘Since the deal became operational over 10,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel and Labour have removed a mere 26.
‘This will obviously not deter anyone. We need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights which will enable us to deport people in days – this would be a real deterrent.’
