Keir Starmer branded a ‘hypocrite’ as Channel migrant death toll rises | Politics | News

More migrants will die trying to cross the Channel unless ministers treat the crisis as a “national emergency”.

A tiny baby became the 53^rd fatality this year after another boat sank on Thursday night, plunging people into the water.

On Friday, both Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron faced fresh fury over the growing death toll, with analysis revealing more migrants have perished this year than in the last three combined.

Tory leadership contender and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “We’ve seen more deaths this year than ever before. Starmer is condemning people to death for his own ideology.

“Rather than strengthening the Rwanda scheme to deter people from making the journey in the first place, he scrapped it all because he didn’t come up with the idea.

“Now European countries are looking to do the same thing. It’s a national emergency and he’s playing politics with it.”

Sir Keir was also accused of hypocrisy after he signed a Rwanda-style deal to deport migrants who arrive in the Chagos Islands on small boats.

Asylum seekers arriving in the British-owned archipelago will be deported to St Helena, another UK territory more than 5,000 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean.

Mr Jenrick added: “This is yet more rank hypocrisy from Starmer. He’s scrapped our Rwanda deterrent because of his petty party politics, with no regard for the damage small boat crossings cause our country.

“This Labour Government has shown it won’t put our national interest first.”

Former home secretary James Cleverly added: “The death of a baby in the Channel today serves as another stark reminder that small boat crossings are extremely dangerous and the evil people smuggling gangs must be stopped.

“The status quo is simply not good enough – and both the UK and French governments must redouble efforts to put an end to this”.

The child was found among 65 UK migrants rescued from a flimsy dinghy off the coast at Wissant, close to Calais.

The local prefecture said in a statement: “Rescuers found that the boat, which was heavily loaded, was in difficulty and that some of the people were in the water.

“Rescuers began to recover the people in difficulty.

“At the same time, further searches were carried out to find people who could be stranded at sea.”

It was then that the baby was discovered, the prefecture added.

On September 3, six children and a pregnant woman were among 12 people who died after a boat carrying dozens of people sank off the French coast.

And on October 5 a two-year-old child was among four people who died after being “trampled” at the bottom of a similar boat.

Guirec Le Bras, the Boulogne-Sur-Mer prosecutor, said the baby boy was born in Germany to a Somali mother.

A person in the same vessel suffered burns to their legs and was airlifted to hospital, Mr Billant said, while the remaining passengers continued their journey to England.

In total, 53 migrants have died crossing the Channel this year. In 2021, 37 people drowned.

Last year, 12 people lost their lives.

Responding to Mr Jenrick’s remarks, the Prime Minister’s deputy spokesperson said: “The blame is firmly on the ruthless criminal gangs that exploit people into undertaking these dangerous journeys and that is why the Prime Minister’s primary focus is on smashing the gangs and stopping these journeys from happening in the first place.

“Cases such as this are terrible reminders of the callousness of the gangs exploiting people to make these journeys.

“It is very clear that we need to tackle them and the Prime Minister has set out a plan to do so including setting up our enforcement coordination with partners with countries across Europe and countries and also work upstream to tackle the problem at source.

“That is the approach we are taking.”

A total of 27,557 people have arrived in the UK in small boats so far this year after crossing the channel – 6% higher than the equivalent point last year.

The total number of arrivals is 26% lower than the same point in 2022.

People continued crossing the Channel as arrivals were brought into Dover on Friday.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We are heartbroken that a baby has died in yet another devastating and depressingly preventable tragedy in the Channel. People who make the crossing are fleeing war, conflict and persecution and simply want to be safe.

“As our analysis shows, these crossings are getting ever deadlier, with the total number of deaths this year being greater than the previous three years combined.

“This procession of death and tragedy shows we need to rethink our approach. Lives will continue to be lost if we carry on as it is.”