Fresh blow for Keir Starmer as new milestone hit in Channel crisis | Politics | News
The number of migrants crossing the Canal this year has surpassed 40,000, with more than 700 arriving on small boats.
According to Ministry of Internal Affairs figures, a total of 11 boats carrying 737 people passed through on December 13.
The last year more than 40,000 migrants crossed in a year was 2022; that year’s total was 45,755; 2023’s total was 29,347 and 2024’s was 36,816.
The French Maritime Governor said he had received reports of a large number of migrant ships sailing on Saturday.
It was reported that 4 people fell into the sea in the Sangatte area at around 10.50. They were pulled from the water, all four suffering from hypothermia.
At 14.14 another small boat experienced engine failure and 28 migrants were rescued before the ship was restarted and continued its journey across the Channel.
The governor said in a statement: “Given the structural fragility of systematically overloaded boats, the decision was made not to force the migrants to board the (French) state’s rescue vehicles in order to avoid endangering their lives in the event of a shipwreck.”
The Sunday Express revealed that the Home Office was so desperate for failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals to leave the country voluntarily that they were offered help to set up their own companies and offered accommodation for “up to five nights” in their home country.
People sent to many countries, including Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Jamaica, can also request someone to meet them at the airport and get help “finding and reuniting” their family members.
This has raised fears that the UK is being seen as a “soft touch” by funding “luxury repatriation grants”.
As Labor seeks to increase the number of migrants leaving the country voluntarily, the number of migrants receiving support in their home countries will also increase.
IRARA, the government’s contracted organization, proudly declares that it offers “visa application support” service. This includes assistance with work visas, family visas, citizenship applications, employment visas and visitor visas.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This shows Labour’s UK has a soft touch. The government is offering special treatment to illegal immigrants rather than putting them on planes.”
“Unless being here illegally carries serious consequences, more and more illegal immigrants will continue to arrive. If we withdraw from the ECHR, we will be able to quickly and forcibly deport all illegal immigrants without having to offer taxpayer-funded bribes to persuade them to leave voluntarily.”
Government contracts seen by the Sunday Express reveal how the UK funds stays for up to five nights in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
This period can be extended for another five nights if immigrants need extra assistance.
The UK is also prepared to pay for “onward” transport costs between 10 countries and “food packages” for asylum seekers, immigration offenders and foreign criminals deported from the UK.
Authorities will also provide “family tracing and reunification services.”
Migrants are also offered access to the “Returner Education and Entrepreneurship fund” for “business start-up support” or “support to access vocational training or further education”.
Failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals who agree to leave voluntarily are also offered workshops and “mentoring programmes” to help them develop their skills.
The scheme is being implemented by IRARA, an organization headquartered in Brussels.
A video for migrants repatriated from the UK states: “When you arrive home, you will be greeted by an IRARA representative who is there to help you. Our team members can assist you with any immediate support you need, which may include emergency accommodation, medical signage or transport.”
“We will meet with you shortly after you return home to discuss your current situation, skills, and needs.
“Together we will develop a tailored reintegration plan. IRARA can help you apply for a job, start a business, access or enroll in training.
“Once you create a reintegration plan you are happy with, IRARA applies for the grant on your behalf and once approved we handle all payments to suppliers and vendors, so you can get started quickly and easily.”
The organization also works with internal departments across Europe.
Reform’s Lee Anderson told the Sunday Express: “This taxpayer-funded nonsense is an outrageous use of public money. It is not the British government’s responsibility to fund luxury repatriation facilities for foreign nationals, many of whom will be deported, so they can ‘rebuild their lives’ back home.”
“This is another example of the soft-touch Britain that Labor and the Conservative Party have created. The signal we are sending to the world is disastrous: commit a crime and you’ll get the red carpet treatment on the way out. This must end.”
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Putting British entrepreneurs out of business with high taxes and using taxpayers’ money to help immigrants set up businesses in foreign lands is the kind of madness we have come to expect from the failing Home Office.
“I’m sure if immigrants were enterprising enough to come here illegally they would do just fine where they ended up, but either way that’s none of the business of British taxpayers.
“Thousands of British firms are struggling and want more support or lower taxes.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “These claims are untrue. This scheme enables migrants to return to their home country, settle down and avoid re-entering the UK for a very low fee.”
“Each asylum seeker remaining in the UK costs taxpayers around £30,000 a year. This scheme will help reduce costs for UK taxpayers, while we are intensifying our enforcement action against those who have no right to be here – almost 50,000 people have been removed since the Government came to power.”
