A MONSTER day of Channel crossings has sparked fury at both Rishi Sunak for failing to stop small boats and Sir Keir Starmer for not “caring”.
Some 882 illegal migrants arrived in 15 dinghies yesterday to mark the highest daily tally for 18 months.
EPAMore than 12,000 illegal migrants have arrived this year[/caption]
Labour accused the PM of “presiding over the worst year our country has ever seen” for the boat crisis.
But Nigel Farage put the boot into both main parties, blasting: “Rishi can’t stop the boats and Labour don’t care. This is a national security emergency.”
It takes the number of arrivals this year to 12,313, with the rate on course to make 2024 the worst on record.
Immigration is a key battleground in the election campaign, with Mr Sunak trying to sell his Rwanda plan as the solution to solve the Channel crisis.
Sir Keir has vowed to axe the deportation scheme and instead let illegal arrivals claim asylum, while also creating a new Border Security Command.
He said today: “The single objective is taking down the gangs that run this vile trade in the first place. We will set up a command straight away it’s one of the first things we will do in government.”
His shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock added: “Far from stopping the boats, Rishi Sunak is presiding over the worst year our country has ever seen for Channel crossings, with an arrivals total yesterday higher than any day in the last 18 months.
“While he has focused all his efforts on trying to get 300 migrants sent to Rwanda, 40 times that many people have crossed the Channel already this year, the trafficking gangs have got ever richer and the amount the government is spending on hotels for asylum seekers remains stuck at £8million a day.”
Meanwhile, the PM defended his record and said there would always be some days “worse than others”.
Asked why people should believe he is the right person to tackle the small boats crisis, he said: “In the last 12 months the number of people crossing the channel is actually down almost a third.
“That hasn’t happened before and it shows that we can make a difference. That is what I have been focused on doing.”
He added: “There is always going to be days which are worse than others, but the choice at this election is about how do we solve this problem for good.
“I have got a plan to do that and that is about getting a deterrent up and running, removing the incentive for people to come here.
“It is as simple as that, if people come here illegally they shouldn’t be able to stay.
“We need to remove them somewhere else and if we can get that up and running then people will stop coming, and multiple other European countries agree with us.”
Mr Farage’s Reform UK party has pledged to stop all small boat crossings within 100 days by sending Channel migrants back to France.
Yesterday the Labour leader said cops are failing to stop enough Channel migrants for the enormous sums British taxpayers are handing over
He pledged to “improve” the half-a-billion-pound deal with Emmanuel Macron because it was “not proving effective”.
Sunak inked the agreement in Paris early last year that sees the UK stump up cash for France’s help intercepting small boats.
But since then tens of thousands of migrants have illegally made the dangerous sea crossing, and prevention rates are low.
Grilled by the Sun if taxpayers are getting value for money and he would keep the agreement, Sir Keir said: “I think we need to improve on that.
“All the reports I’ve seen on that initiative show that it’s not proving effective, and I think that’s shown by the numbers that we’re seeing, record numbers. We need to renew that.”
Britain is set to pay £161million to Paris in 2024/25, and a further £176million in 2025/26.
Mr Sunak said yesterday: “If re-elected as Prime Minister, the flights will go to Rwanda, we will build that deterrent, removing the incentive for people to come here in the first place.
“That’s the only way to solve this problem and in contrast Keir Starmer would release everyone that we have detained, illegal migrants would be on our streets, they wouldn’t be on the planes, which would be cancelled. There would be no deterrent.”
Mr Sunak has promised the first planes will go to Kigali on July 24 if he is reelected.