Pressure on Labour as small boat crossings fell during last year of Sunak as PM

Migrants crossing the Channel in small boats fell by almost a third in Rishi Sunak's, last year as prime minister, figures show, piling pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to continue the downward trend.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

In the year to 30 June, days before the general election, there were 31,493 arrivals in the UK via small boats. It marked a 29 per cent fall on the year before and a slight decrease from the same period two years ago.

Coming just days after Yvette Cooper fleshed out Labour's , alternative to the Rwanda deportation policy, which would have sent some asylum seekers to the east African nation, the figures will add to the pressure on the government to bring the numbers down further.

Tory leadership contender and shadow home secretary James Cleverly said: 6°The actions I took as home secretary are working.. that,s the inheritance I left Labour.

But they,re undoing all of this progress. They have ditched our deterrent, have no clear plan to smash the gangs, have nowhere to send failed asylum seekers who they can,t return, have failed to hire anyone to run their phantom border command, and are already planning to roll over for the EU and open our borders.

But Home Office minister Seema Malhotra said the figures showed Tories had left the immigration and asylum system in chaos".