No small boats have crossed the Channel for 25 days – the longest break since 2020
No migrants have been detected crossing the English Channel in the past 25 days – the longest break since February 2020.
Home Office figures show that the last boat to arrive on British shores was a single vessel carrying 55 people on 16 December.
The day before, seven boats with a total of 292 migrants were found.
By this time last year, 44 migrants on small boats had already been detected. The gap marks the longest break in arrivals since a period spanning February and March 2020.
The pause in attempts to cross to British shores comes as cold and snowy weather has battered many parts of the UK.
Storm Henk, which arrived on 2 January, saw 94mph winds pummel South Wales and southern areas of England.
Amid the adverse weather, Condor Ferries – which operates between Poole, Portsmouth, the Channel Islands and France – cancelled services, while ferry company DFDS called off some Dover-Calais and Dover-Dunkirk sailings.
Storm Henk’s arrival came less than a week after Storm Gerrit, which forced Condor to cancel all passenger sailings for three days.
The 25-day period of no small boats includes Christmas 2023 – which was the first without any migrant crossings in five years.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats one of his key pledges, but he was dealt a blow last week when leaked figures revealed the number of migrants crossing the Channel could rise to 35,000 this year.
More from Sky News:
Iranian navy seizes oil tanker
‘Substantial snow’ to hit the UK
Sunak has put stopping migrant crossings at the top of his to-do list
The leaked Border Force documents revealed that 35,000 crossings is the medium-case scenario considered most likely, while the highest projection is 50,000.
A source close to James Cleverly, the home secretary, tried to downplay the projections.
This leak was swiftly followed by the release of a French report that claimed the UK isn’t cooperating with efforts to stop the boats.
The document, published by the French Court of Accounts, said “that the British don’t provide usable information on the departures of small boats, and give very general, first-level information that has not been counter-checked”.
The Home Office claimed the report “is based on out-of-date information and does not accurately reflect our current working relationship” with France.
Most RWAs remain isolated and underutilized instead of composable, DeFi-ready building blocks. It’s time to change that.
Thousands of savers face potential losses after a $2.7 million shortfall was discovered at Ziglu, a British crypto fintech that entered special administration.
Politics
Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget
Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.
Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.
Politics Hub: Catch up on the latest
Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.
Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.
“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”
Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.
“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”
Read more:
Reeves won’t rule out tax rises
What is a wealth tax and how would it work?
👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈
Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”
He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France
Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.
Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.
Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.
With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.
The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike