After a small boat capsized in the English Channel yesterday, four migrants died and a rescue mission is underway.
Suella Braverman promised that new immigration legislation would “save lives” after four people died crossing the English Channel today. Following the deaths of migrants caused by a capsized boat, the Home Secretary lashed out at “evil, organised criminals” trafficking vulnerable individuals across the Dover Strait.
She added that the fatalities were a “sobering reminder of why these channel crossings need to end”.
A further 43 people were rescued in the early hours of the morning in a rescue operation involving the Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard, and RNLI lifeboats.
Temperatures in the Channel are likely to have dropped below freezing overnight as a cold front sweeps across the UK.
“I know that everyone in this House and across the country will join me in expressing our profound sadness and deepest sympathies for everyone affected by this terrible event,” Ms Braverman told MPs in the Commons.
“These are the days we dread. Crossing the Channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour,” she continued, “and it is for this reason, above all, that we are working so hard to destroy the business model of people smugglers, evil, organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo.”
Just yesterday, the Prime Minister unveiled his five-point plan to reduce the number of people crossing the perilous border from France.
It entailed establishing a Small Boat Operational Command with a new headquarters and military support.
He said new legislation would be introduced to help speed up the removal of those who arrive in the UK without the right to stay, discouraging those who try to cross the Channel in small boats.
More than 44,000 people have made the perilous crossing of the Channel so far in 2022, a record number.
The deaths follow the deaths of at least 27 migrants in November last year when a dinghy sank on its way to the UK from France.