Downing Street rejects French claims over Channel disaster as key resolution imminent | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Downing Street has rejected French claims migrants are travelling to the UK as a result of it’s straightforward to fade into our black-market financial system.

Number 10 insisted “the people responsible for this vile trade are the smuggling gangs who make profit”.

French inside minister Gerald Darmanin blamed Britain’s sweat-shop financial system for the Channel migrant disaster.

Mr Darmanin, in a unprecedented outburst, stated the UK was a spot “where you can work without papers and where you have little chance of being expelled”.

But requested whether or not the UK’s labour market was a pull issue, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman stated: “No, and let’s be clear, the people responsible for this vile trade are the smuggling gangs who make profit and take advantage of vulnerable people and vulnerable situations.

“And that’s the reason this Government is so targeted on dismantling their prison operations and stopping these harmful journeys going down.”

And the head of the Government’s new Border Security Command will be named within weeks, Downing Street said, as the latest figures showed 257 migrants crossed the English Channel on Wednesday.

Officials insisted the Government was taking action, including boosting National Crime Agency (NCA) resources devoted to the problem, as the number of people making the journey in small boats reached almost 22,000 so far this year.

The Home Office promised a “fast” recruitment process for the border security commander within days of Labour’s election win in July, but two months on there has been no announcement.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “One of the primary issues that the Government did was to launch the recruitment marketing campaign for the border safety commander.

“We obviously want to have the most skilled person possible in the role.

“The course of has been thorough, and we anticipate to offer an replace on that within the coming weeks.”

The spokesman added: “In the meantime, we have already put an additional 100 officers into the National Crime Agency to work with companions throughout Europe, on high of the 50% uplift in NCA officers stationed at Europol.”

Home Office figures confirmed 5 boats arrived on Wednesday, which suggests a median of round 51 individuals per boat.

The arrivals got here a day after a ship sank off the coast of France, claiming the lives of 12 migrants together with a pregnant lady and 6 youngsters.

The cumulative variety of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional whole of 21,977.

This is 3% increased than at this level final yr, when the whole stood at 21,372, however 20% decrease than at this stage in 2022, when the whole was 27,409.

There have been 2,683 arrivals up to now 9 days, from August 27 to September 4 inclusive – the very best in any nine-day interval thus far this yr.

There had been 29,437 arrivals throughout the entire of 2023, down 36% on a document 45,774 in 2022.

More than 30 individuals have now died in Channel crossings thus far this yr, in contrast with 12 who’re thought to have died or had been recorded as lacking in 2023, in response to the French coastguard.