More than 600 migrants crossed the English Channel from France in small boats yesterday, sparking fierce criticism from Reform UK MP Lee Anderson directed at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Recent data highlights a decline in crossing attempts intercepted by French authorities over the past five years, despite the UK allocating over £700 million to support Paris’s efforts.
Anderson’s Outspoken Critique
In an interview with GB News, Anderson remarked: “The thing is they might have intercepted these people, but they’ve not stopped them getting on a dinghy because these people may try once, twice, 20 times, but eventually they will get to this country. Because when I was in Calais, the police, the army, the security services told us every single young male that was in the camps in Calais will at some stage get to our shores, be put in a hotel and then they’ll be able to go through the asylum process and eventually claim asylum. It’s absolute nonsense. Starmer said he would smash the gangs, it gets worse and worse. And that spineless lot over there, those cowards over there haven’t got the backbone or the political will to sort this out. It can be sorted out in a matter of weeks.”
Falling Interception Numbers
House of Commons Library analysis shows 22,476 attempts were halted last year, down from 23,923 in 2021, 33,000 in 2022, and 26,000 in 2023.
Reform UK’s Deportation Proposal
Reform UK’s new home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf recently labeled the migrant arrivals an “invasion” while promoting the party’s ambitious mass deportation initiative. The plan involves creating a dedicated unit to track, detain, and remove illegal residents, targeting up to 288,000 deportations annually and exceeding 600,000 over a first term in office.
