Claims by the Prime Minister that illegal migrants are waiting in Calais for a Labour Government before crossing the Channel have been dismissed as “complete nonsense” by senior maritime sources.
It comes as GB News can reveal that almost 4,000 small boat migrants have now crossed to the UK since Rishi Sunak called the election.
On the campaign trail on Monday, the Prime Minister was challenged about his assertion that migrants were not crossing until the outcome of the election later this week. Mr Sunak said: “That’s what the illegal migrants themselves in Calais are saying.
“They know Rwanda is not somewhere they would like to go, it is a deterrent. It’s very simple – I don’t think illegal migrants should get to stay in our country”.
Migrants crossing the Channel
PA
However, one senior maritime source with close links to Border Force, said the Prime Minister’s claims were demonstrably false.
“It is complete nonsense for Rishi Sunak to suggest that migrants are holding back from making the journey over to the UK simply because they’re waiting for a Labour Government to scrap the Rwanda scheme.
“We’ve seen a regular drum beat of small boat crossings across the year so far, at a much higher rate than previous years.
“I’m seeing no slowdown in those crossings, and every chance of a record year of migrant arrivals if the current trend continues in the months ahead.”
Another maritime source, who regularly works the waters between the UK and France told GB News: “There has been no let-up in the numbers crossing from France in recent weeks.
“There’s nothing I’ve seen that indicates that they’re waiting for a Labour Government before crossing. In fact, the only factor at play in increasing or decreasing the numbers crossing is the weather.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
GB News can reveal that since May 22, when the Prime Minister called the General Election, a further 3,700 migrants have made the illegal journey.
Far from a halt in arrivals, Home Office figures show that yesterday alone, 217 migrants made the crossing in four small boats.
GB News can confirm that more than 100 people have crossed so far on Monday.
This takes the total number of Channel migrant arrivals this year to more than 13,500, a nearly 20 per cent increase on the numbers crossing at the same point last year.
In recent days, Rishi Sunak and some of his ministers have quoted a report from The Telegraph suggesting migrants were biding their time, awaiting a Keir Starmer government and a move by Labour to scrap the Rwanda scheme.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “It’s clear that there’s a cohort of people, currently in France, who are waiting for Rwanda to be taken off the table before coming over here.”
Far from a halt in arrivals, Home Office figures show that yesterday alone, 217 migrants made the crossing in four small boats
GB News
However, Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper dismissed that suggestion.
She said: “James Cleverly is clutching at vox pop straws when he should be taking responsibility for the facts, which are that boat crossings have reached a record high this Spring, and since Rishi Sunak promised he would stop them last year, the problems are getting worse.”
Talking to GB News, the senior maritime source said he simply didn’t believe that there was any significant pause in small boat launches due to a political calculation.
“It’s certainly possible that The Telegraph reporting team found one or two migrants willing to suggest they were waiting for a Labour Government.
“But the truth is, no migrant has a say on when the people smugglers decide to launch the small boats.
“That decision is solely in the hands of the criminal gangs and they’re driven by money and demand. And the only thing that ever slows them down is the unpredictability of the weather in the Channel.”
