Six Times as Many Migrants Land on English Soil in January than Last Year

DOVER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 16: A group of men wait to disembark from a coastguard vessel on
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Kurt Zindulka

Two years after securing its independence from the European Union, record waves of migrants continue to land despite the government’s promise to “take back control” of the nation’s borders, with six times as many landings in January than last year.

Hailing the second anniversary of Brexit, embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed on Monday: “Two years after we left the EU, we have taken back control of our money, our borders, and our laws.”

However, analysis from the Daily Mail newspaper has revealed that six times as many illegal boat migrants crossed the English Channel in January than did in the same month last year.

According to calculations made by the paper, 1,341 aliens landed on British shores after setting off from the beaches of France in 46 small boats in January, alone. This is compared to 223 recorded arrivals during the same period last year.

The relentless pace carried out by the people-smuggling operation points to another record year for illegal migration through the route. Last year, a record 28,400 aliens reached the UK via the Channel. The government has been warned that upwards of 65,000 could land this year, however, some, including Brexit boss Nigel Farage have warned that the country could see as many as 80,000 arrive on its soil.

January is typically a slower month for illegal crossings of the English Channel due to difficult weather conditions in the world’s busiest waterway. Indeed, at least three migrants have lost their lives so far this year attempting to reach England, according to the Care4Calais charity. In November, a record 27 drowned in a single disaster.

In a move largely seen as a crass attempt to throw “red meat” to his conservative base, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to deploy the Royal Navy to the English Channel to coordinate the response to the record flows of migrants. However, the navy will likely not use push-back methods to send the migrants back to France and will likely simply continue Border Force’s work, bringing migrants ashore to Britain.

Indeed, Brexit’s Nigel Farage told Breitbart London that the move will essentially relegate the Royal Navy to nothing more than an “expensive taxi service” for illegal migrants.

“Using the Royal Navy to ferry migrants into Dover is a waste of military resources and a more expensive taxi service than border force,” Mr Farage said.

The government has also faced criticism over leaked plans revealing the Home Office’s desire to stop the daily reporting of migrant arrivals in favor of a quarterly reporting scheme, with numbers released every three months.

The Migration Watch UK think tank has started a petition to prevent the government “cover-up” of daily figures, arguing that the move would be a “huge blow to public accountability and democracy.”

“This smacks of the North Korean approach to public information. How dare they try to keep from us evidence of their incompetence and ineffectiveness?” the pressure group wrote.

“It’s an attempt to undermine your ability to hold them responsible by fudging and hiding the figures so you have less chance to scrutinize their failure… The British people will not tolerate censorship.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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