#english-channel

#english-channel

More than 600 migrants have crossed the English Channel in a new daily record for 2023, days after Rishi Sunak claimed his plan to stop the boats was working.Figures released by the Home Office show that 616 people arrived in 12 boats on Sunday, bringing the total so far this year to around 8,400.At the same point last year, the total had just passed 10,000, and last Monday the prime minister hailed the reduction as proof that our approach is working.

A port where a barge housing asylum seekers is set to dock has reportedly removed its cruise ship schedule from its website in a bid to deter far-right protests.The Bibby Stockholm arrived on Tuesday in Falmouth, Cornwall, where the accommodation barge will undergo an assessment and refurbishment.The vessel, which will house around 500 migrants, is then expected to be moved into position at the Portland of Port in Dorset in the next few weeks.

French magistrates on Thursday filed preliminary charges against five French maritime rescue personnel in a probe of the deadly sinking of a flimsy migrant craft in the English Channel in 2021 that killed 27 people.The five, all military personnel, were handed a preliminary charge of not assisting people in danger, judicial authorities said.

Here are the key numbers in the latest migration figures from the Office for National Statistics: Net migration to the UK is estimated to have reached a record 606,000 in 2022, up 24% from 488,000 in 2021.The figure stood at 89,000 in 2020, when restrictions introduced during the Covid pandemic limited travel and movement.

The U.K. interior minister won't face investigation over allegations that she tried to pull strings after getting a speeding ticket, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday, in an attempt to lay to rest one of several ethics claims dogging the Conservative government.Sunak said he had consulted his standards adviser over the claims about Home Secretary Suella Braverman and decided her actions didn't breach the code of conduct for government ministers.

Albanian prisoners incarcerated in the UK after illegally crossing the English Channel are being paid to return to their country, it has been claimed.A handful of men who took advantage of the deportation programmes told the BBC they had been reportedly offered up to £1,500 by the Home Office, as well as a year off their prison term, to return to Albania, where they will become "free citizens".

The former head of the British Army has said he is uncomfortable with the Government's plans to send migrants who enter the UK unlawfully to Rwanda.General Lord Richard Dannatt pointed to the dark history of the east African nation which he said is still cast in the shadow of the genocide.He accused the Home Secretary of running down the remaining political capital of Rishi Sunak's Government with the unpopular policy.

UK police officers are to be tasked with breaking up people-smuggling gangs alongside security forces in North African countries, it has been reported.The Times newspaper has been told National Crime Agency (NCA) officers would join nations in the region in their efforts to stop the people traffickers.

UK police officers are to be tasked with breaking up people-smuggling gangs alongside security forces in North African countries, it has been reported.The Times newspaper has been told National Crime Agency (NCA) officers would join nations in the region in their efforts to stop the people traffickers.

A 14-year-old boy is among four people charged over a riot at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Merseyside.A police van was set on fire as missiles were thrown at police officers outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley on 10 February, after a protest spiralled into violence.Paul Lafferty, 42, of Northwood, John Tippler, 59, of Northwood, Christopher Shelley, aged 44, of Southdene and a 14-year-old boy from Kirkby have been charged with violent disorder and will appear in court next month.

A review has been commissioned by the BBC Board into the broadcaster's coverage of migration, including small boats crossing the English Channel, to consider whether due impartiality is being delivered, the corporation said.The review will be jointly chaired by Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory based at Oxford University, and Samir Shah, chief executive of the independent television and radio production company Juniper.

Failures at the Home Office are to blame for the small boats crisis, a senior Tory MP has said.Sir Bob Neill criticised Suella Braverman's planned immigration reforms for focusing too heavily on the law rather than tackling the asylum backlog.People who cross the English Channel are not going through the tribunals system quickly enough because of a lack of resources, the chair of the Justice Select Committee suggested.

Suella Braverman has failed to offer statistical evidence to back her claim that migrants crossing the English Channel are linked to heightened levels of criminality as the government's immigration legislation cleared the Commons.The Home Secretary said people arriving in the UK in small boats have values which are at odds with our country ahead of MPs debating the Illegal Migration Bill.

The Attorney General must declare the Illegal Migration Bill unlawful if Rishi Sunak agrees to toughen up the controversial policy, MPs have heard.Victoria Prentis, the Government's top law officer, told the Commons she is very pleased the Bill cleared its committee stage in the Commons without amendment as she sidestepped calls to reveal her legal advice.

The Government is expected to defuse a Tory rebellion over the Illegal Migration Bill by offering assurances to those wanting to toughen up the controversial proposals.The legislation aims to stop people claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means, including those crossing the English Channel in small boats.

The protests over pension reform are the gravest challenge to President Macron's authority since 2018 Yellow Vest' demonstrations.Riot police clashed with protesters for a second night in Paris as demonstrations continued against the government's plans to raise the French pension age.The growing unrest since the start of the year, which has resulted in a wave of strikes and rubbish piling up on the streets of the French capital, has left President Emmanuel Macron with the gravest challenge to his authority since the so-called Gilets Jaunes or Yellow Vest protests of December 2018.

Sar2667 fell near the English Channel last night - and left a spectacular sight for stargazers



Anyone who happened to be up at 3am last night and looking up at the night sky might well have witnessed an exceptionally strange (and totally dazzling) sight indeed.An asteroid crashed into the earth and exploded mid-air, with the results being visible in areas of south England, Wales and northern France.

We haven't prepared for this...In case Londoners needed another reason to feel existential dread and crippling environmental anxiety, a top scientist has warned that a 'mega tsunami' could hit London 'at any time'.Doomsday preppers, this is your time to shine.Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the UK government and founder of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University, told My London that a huge tidal wave could sweep up the River Thames at any point, causing massive devastation to the city.

The Government has insisted it is doing all it can to help Ukrainians who have fled to the UK, after a charity criticised gaps in support which it said is making life hard for refugees already facing the emotional impact of the conflict.Many of those who are supporting Ukrainian refugees through Government schemes are struggling to afford to continue hosting people amid the cost-of-living crisis, the British Red Cross said.

More than 10,000 people have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats so far this year, after a jump in arrivals in recent days, figures show.Some 486 people made the crossing on Friday, with a further 374 on Saturday.The provisional total for 2023 now stands at 10,139, according to the latest data from the Home Office.

The Government is showing a lack of compassion in its harsh language about migrants, a Tory ex-minister has said.Lord Kamall, a Conservative former health minister who served in Boris Johnson's government, urged ministers to tone down their harsh rhetoric about migrants crossing the channel.As the House of Lords continued scrutiny of the Illegal Migration Bill, Lord Kamall said: I am very concerned about the language that we are using.

The lives of 108 migrants attempting to make the perilous crossing of the English Channel were saved by RNLI lifeboat crews last year, the charity has revealed.Publishing the figures for the first time, the RNLI has disclosed that it tasked and launched 290 times during 2022 to incidents involving men, women and children.

Peers have been abused, bullied and intimidated by the government over the controversial plans to tackle the small boats crisis, it has been claimed in parliament.The charge was levelled as the House of Lords again sat into the early hours debating the Illegal Migration Bill.With proceedings having started at 2.30pm on Monday, the upper chamber eventually rose at 2am on Tuesday.