DOVER (dpa-AFX) – The number of people who crossed the English Channel in small boats towards Great Britain fell significantly last year. In 2023, around 29,400 people crossed the strait, the British news agency PA reported on Monday, citing preliminary figures from the Home Office in London. In the previous year there were around 45,800. That corresponds to a decline of more than a third (36 percent).
It is the first time since records began in 2018 that the number of boat migrants has fallen year-on-year, the PA report said. The last crossing of the year was recorded on December 15th. Since then there have been no more crossings – probably due to the weather. Above all, the number of Albanian nationals had increased as a result of an agreement with Tirana.
But that may not be enough for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s conservative government. A new parliament must be elected in Great Britain by January 2025 at the latest and the ruling Tories are miles behind the opposition Labor Party in polls. Sunak has taken up the cause of “stopping the boats” and reducing the number of immigrants.
In order to deter people from crossing the English Channel, London wants to send irregular migrants to Rwanda in the future without examining their asylum applications and regardless of their origin. You should then ask for protection there. There are no plans to return to Great Britain. But the plan was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. In order to implement it, the government wants to pass a corresponding law through parliament soon.
A new regulation also came into force on Monday, which is intended to make it more difficult for foreign students to bring their relatives. Accordingly, only postgraduates can hope for British visas for their families. Among other things, the generous rules for students led to a net immigration of 672,000 people in the twelve months up to June 2023 – a far higher number than a few years ago./cmy/DP/he