FARAGE: NOT A WORD FROM OUR PM ON BOATS CRISIS!

NIGEL Farage has criticised Sir Keir Starmer for failing to address the latest surge in migrant boat arrivals.

- Michael Knowles

The PM yesterday declared he wanted more joint BritishGerman operations to stop asylum seekers getting to northern France.

But he failed to mention at a press conference in Berlin how more than 520 people were intercepted in the Channel on Tuesday.

Reform UK leader Mr blasted: "526 Farage blasted: people crossed Channel yesterday.

"As I write, 11 boats are mid-Channel, yet not a word from our Prime Minister."

Sir Keir was accused of remaining silent on the problem despite evidence smugglers are approaching the busiest part of the year.

Official figures are expected to show more than 20,000 people have now been intercepted trying to reach the UK so far in 2024.

Mr Farage added: "Not only are we through 20,000 crossings for the year, we are now ahead of 2023. There is no end to this.

"On Channel migrants, Starmer will fail." There are also growing signs the smuggling gangs are packing record numbers into each dinghy.

Some 526 people were picked up in eight boats on Tuesday, meaning there were around 66 asylum seekers crammed into each dinghy.

As many as 11 boats attempted to cross the Channel yesterday, with the number of migrants arriving yet to be confirmed last night.

But with this daily figure set to be in the hundreds again as settled warm weather continues, it would mean more than 20,000 migrants have come ashore so far this year.