Migration to Great Britain: Daily record number of migrants at the English Channel this year

More than 880 people crossed the English Channel in small boats towards Britain yesterday. This is the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year. Overall, the number of people who reached Britain this way in 2024 rose to more than 12,300, the British news agency PA reported, citing the Home Office.

This is bad news for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. He has made migration one of the top issues in his election campaign for the upcoming general election on July 4 and has promised to stop the boats.

If the conservative head of government has his way, people who have entered the country irregularly will in future be deported to Rwanda without their asylum application being examined and regardless of their origin.

No evidence of deterrent effect

The plan should actually have been implemented long ago. But although 240 million pounds (around 284 million euros) have already been transferred to the East African country as part of an agreement with Rwanda, not a single migrant has been deported there so far, with the exception of one who left voluntarily.

Nevertheless, the program is repeatedly praised as a model by politicians in the EU. According to Sunak, it is intended to have a deterrent effect. However, there is no evidence of this so far. Experts doubt that it will stop migrants from attempting the dangerous crossing in small boats across the English Channel to Great Britain.

If Sunak, as expected, suffers a defeat in the British general election on July 4, the deportations are unlikely to ever take place. The opposition Labour Party has a huge lead over Sunak’s Tories in the polls and wants to overturn the asylum pact with Rwanda.