- Tragic Incident and Government Response: Six Migrants Die as Vessel Capsizes off French Coast
- Challenges and Criticisms: Pressure Mounts on UK Government to Address Channel Crossings
- Policy Debates and International Efforts: Calls for Tougher Action to Combat People Smuggling
On Saturday, six migrants perished when a vessel capsized off the coast of France, increasing the pressure on ministers to address Channel crossings by boat.
Labour stated that people smugglers were “running rings” around the government, and a Tory backbencher stated that the United Kingdom had a “moral duty to both our citizens and asylum seekers”
“Stopping the boats” is one of the government’s five main priorities.
Investigations proceed into the incident that led to the rescue of 59 people.
The overcrowded ferry that drowned 12 miles (20 km) off Sangatte was one of several bringing migrants to the UK.
British and French crews rescued the migrants around 04:00 local time in French waters.
According to reports, the passengers were primarily Afghan with a few Sudanese.
In the past five years, over 100,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing of the English Channel in small vessels. On Saturday, more than 500 people arrived.
The Illegal Migration Act is central to the government’s efforts to prevent small boats from traversing the Channel. It seeks to discourage such journeys by detaining and expelling those who undertake them.
Plans to accomplish this by sending a portion of them to Rwanda to seek asylum there are still subject to legal challenges.
Shadow cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson stated, “The events in the Channel are tragic… and demonstrate why we need much tougher action to crack down on criminal gangs that are exploiting and endangering people.”
She stated that convictions for people smugglers have decreased under the current administration and accused ministers of presiding over an “increasingly shambolic and completely incompetent” Home Office.
Ms. Phillipson called for a “better, fairer system” to lower the “completely out of control” asylum backlog.
There have also been calls for action from within the Conservative Party. Former party leader and opposition member Sir Jake Berry said “only radical changes can truly turn the tide.”
Writing in the Sunday Express, he demanded that the United Kingdom withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which he claimed would continue to thwart “all efforts to stop the boats.”
Care4Calais, a refugee aid organization, described the incident as an “appalling and preventable tragedy.” While the Refugee Council warned that “more people will die” if additional safe routes to the United Kingdom are not established.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman called the deaths a “tragic loss of life” at a Saturday meeting with UK Border Force personnel.
David TC Davies, a minister for the Conservative party, asserts that the government has already stopped “a lot” of boats and that the controversial Rwanda policy is the solution. He stated that it would “remove the incentive to board rickety boats.”
A government spokesman stated that Labour was “using the deaths cynically to score cheap political points.”
Labor offered no solutions, they said, while the government was “determined to destroy the business model of people smuggling gangs and save lives.
Additionally, the government has reached an agreement with France under which the United Kingdom will pay £500 million over three years to finance additional patrol officers and a new detention center.
The Nationality and Borders Act, which went into effect in April 2022, is “beginning to have an impact on the exploitative business model of people smugglers,” according to a Home Office spokesperson.
In the past, French authorities have asserted that the English Channel’s extensive coastline makes it extremely challenging for the coastguard to prevent all small-boat incursions.
Government records show 509 persons crossed the English Channel to the UK on Saturday, bringing the annual total to 16,679.
The English Channel is one of the most perilous and congested shipping channels in the world, with 600 tankers and 200 ferries traversing it daily.
A commercial vessel saw the migrant boat before a French police boat arrived, according to French authorities.
The French minister of the sea, Hervé Berville, stated, “While we mourn these victims, it is the responsibility of human traffickers – of criminals – who send children, women, and adults to their deaths on these perilous and lethal maritime routes.”
Investigators are searching for any information that could lead them to the contraband gang responsible for coordinating the crossing.
Aid workers in Calais say more migrants have arrived in recent weeks and are living in poor coastal circumstances. They said many are determined to reach the UK despite warnings about the passage.
As a result of the detection of Legionella bacteria in the water supply, 39 asylum seekers had to be relocated from the Bibby Stockholm barge, which was moored off the coast of Dorset.
