Labour: Govt utterly failing as more migrants die crossing
Six people have died, and others are believed to be missing, after a small boat carrying migrants sank in the Channel. British and French lifeboats rescued around 50 others. The Home Secretary Suella Braverman has expressed her condolences. But campaigners say the deaths were an "appalling and preventable tragedy". Stephen Kinnock, Shadow Immigration Minister, says the incident "underlines that the government is completely and utterly failing to get a grip on this asylum crisis". Report by Czubalam. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00 It's an awful, heartbreaking incident. My thoughts are with all those who've been affected
00:07 and it really is a terrible tragedy. I think what it underlines is that the government is
00:14 completely and utterly failing to get a grip on this asylum crisis. They're failing to
00:21 crack down on the people smugglers, they're failing to get the backlog sorted out and
00:28 they're failing to do a returns deal with the European Union, which is the only effective way
00:34 to stop these dangerous channel crossings. So I'm afraid this is a very tragic reminder
00:43 of the broader failures that are happening in the system. It's absolutely clear that the
00:49 government's attempts to deter these crossings are completely failing. We had 1,100 people crossing
00:56 the channel this week. Thursday was the highest number of 2023. We've crossed 100,000 in total
01:06 now since 2018. So this deterrence plan doesn't work. The only deterrent that will work is a
01:13 returns deal with the European Union because it will be comprehensive. People will know that if
01:18 they pay a people smuggler 5,000 euro to cross the channel on a small boat and they get sent
01:23 straight back to mainland Europe as soon as they arrive in the UK, they'll stop paying that money
01:28 because it will be a complete and utter waste of their money. And that's the only way to break the
01:34 model of the people smugglers. So all these gimmicks like Rwanda, and the Rwandan government
01:38 has said that it can only take two to 300 asylum seekers from the UK. That's never going to act
01:44 as a deterrent when you're dealing with people who've already risked life and limb to get as
01:50 far as Calais. So it's absolutely clear that we need a much more sensible approach based on
01:55 international cooperation. This is a European challenge that requires a collective European
02:00 response. And it's only Labour that can build the trust that is required to get that deal
02:06 and to address these challenges.