Ninety people crossed the English Channel in just two small boats on Christmas day, the Ministry of Defence has revealed. Upon arrival in the UK they were taken to the Western Jet Foil processing centre in Dover. They were the first crossings recorded since December 21 and take the provisional total for migrants making the dangerous journey from France this year to 45,756.
Rishi Sunak has promised to tackle the problem of illegal migrants crossings, and announced a range of measures earlier this month.
The Prime Minister confirmed 700 staff would be employed at a new unit to monitor small boat crossings in the Channel.
Mr Sunak also promised more staff to help clear some of the UK’s backlog of asylum cases by the end of next year.
