Rishi Sunak insisted his plan to “stop the boats” was working as figures showed Channel crossings so far this year are already higher than in the first three months of 2023.
The Prime Minister defended the Government’s efforts despite the number of crossings in 2024 tracking slightly ahead of recent years.
Downing Street declared Mr Sunak’s administration was dealing with a “migration emergency” after a record day for crossings. Some 514 people made the journey in 10 boats on Wednesday, making this the busiest day since the start of the year.
A further 263 people made the journey on Thursday in seven boats, taking the total for 2024 so far to 4,306.
This is 17% higher than the 3,683 people who had arrived as of March 21 2023, which means crossings this year have already exceeded the 3,793 recorded in the first quarter of last year, PA news agency analysis of provisional Home Office data shows.
The number of crossings so far this year is 25% higher than the total at this stage in 2022 (3,442), while the figure for January-March that year was a record 4,548.
The equivalent number of arrivals to the 2024 running total was not reached last year until April 5, while in 2022 it took until March 28 to reach this number.
In the seven days to Thursday, 900 Channel crossings were recorded with more than 800 of those taking place in the last three days alone.
Speaking to reporters in Derbyshire on Friday, Mr Sunak said he was “determined to stop the boats”, adding: “Our plan is working, the numbers last year were down by a third.
“That’s never happened before, that shows that we are making progress.”
The UK needs flights to send migrants to Rwanda as a “deterrent” to “finish the job”, he added.
It comes as the Government’s Rwanda Bill remains stuck in parliamentary limbo after a series of further defeats in the Lords, with MPs not scheduled to debate it again until after Westminster returns from its Easter break.
Asked why he was waiting another three weeks to push the Rwanda legislation through Parliament, Mr Sunak said: “When I got this job as Prime Minister, I set out five priorities. One of them was to stop the boats, I think that this is really important for our country.
“The current situation is simply unfair and unsustainable.
“People should not be able to jump the queue, come here illegally, put pressure on local services, undermine our sense of fairness and ultimately put their lives at risk as they are exploited by gangs.”
Last year 29,437 migrants were recorded arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.