Dozens more migrants including young children arrive in Dover
Dozens more migrants including young children have arrived in Dover in the latest small boat Channel crossing.
It follows the artist Banksy being accused of 'celebrating' migrant deaths in the Channel with his inflatable boat stunt at Glastonbury.
Home Secretary James Cleverly lashed out at the dinghy with dummy migrants which surfed the crowd at a set by Bristol rock band Idles on Friday night before returning for rapper Little Simz on Saturday.
The artist confirmed that the boat was his work following criticism from high-profile Conservative ministers over the weekend, and posted a video of the boat sailing through the crowd during the band's set to his Instagram page.
It comes as party leaders vow to tackle the problem ahead of Thursday's election.
A child is seen being led by the hand as they disembark from a Border Force vessel today
Dozens of migrants including young children have arrived in Dover in the latest crossing
Young children are seen being carried as they were helped ashore today
Keir Starmer hopes that the start of next month is unseasonably wet – to reduce the chance of his likely premiership being sabotaged by rows over his migrant policy
Rishi Sunak landed blows on the Labour leader last week by claiming that illegal migrants are 'queuing up in Calais waiting for a Labour government'
Dozens more migrants have made the dangerous crossing today - including children - as people smugglers continue to take advantage of calm conditions.
A record number of migrants crossed the Channel in the first six months of this year, with 13,056 reaching the UK.
And the number of migrants arriving in small boats has reached 50,108 since Rishi Sunak became the Prime Minister on October 25, 2022.
Keir Starmer hopes that the start of next month is unseasonably wet – to reduce the chance of his likely premiership being sabotaged by rows over his migrant policy.
Mr Sunak landed blows on the Labour leader last week by claiming that illegal migrants are 'queuing up in Calais waiting for a Labour government', and Sir Keir's strategists are concerned about the 'optics' of a surge in small-boat arrivals in his first week in No 10.
Labour's plan to scrap the Rwanda deportation scheme could lead to a surge in Channel migrants that would cost the average household £635, James Cleverly warned previously.
The Home Secretary cited government figures suggesting that removing the 'deterrent' scheme would lead to the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels jumping to 185,000 at a cost of £32million a day.
And he seized on reports that Sir Keir Starmer is 'praying for rain' this summer to prevent a surge in Channel crossings in Labour's first hundred days.
Mr Cleverly said Labour had no credible plans to deter channel crossings, adding: 'Right now, all we know is that Keir Starmer would stand on the cliffs of Dover to do a rain dance and hope that stops the boats.
'There would be no deterrent under Labour and that means the business model for people smugglers would still be viable - boats would cross the channel in droves.
'There are thousands waiting in Calais for a Labour government so they can make the crossing. We simply cannot give them that incentive by surrendering our borders to Labour.'
Labour dismissed the claim as a 'a ludicrous lie from an increasingly desperate Tory Party'.
A Labour spokesman said the Government had 'completely lost control' of the asylum system.
But Tory officials cited an official impact assessment produced for the Illegal Migration Act which found that the cost of housing asylum seekers is set to jump to £11.6billion by 2026 unless a deterrent is introduced - equal to £635 for every working family.
Labour has also been warned that French preparations for the Paris Olympics at the end of next month will draw police away from the migrant camps in the north of the country.
Home Secretary James Cleverly lashed out at the dinghy with dummy migrants which surfed the crowd at a set by Bristol rock band Idles on Friday night (pictured)
The shadow minister said: 'The Foreign Office has already briefed us that when the Olympics start the police are going to be deployed around Paris. And the smugglers know that. They could exploit the window.'
In addition to the 60,000 migrants likely to be granted asylum – out of a total of 90,000 on the Rwanda list – the Refugee Council also forecasts that 27,000 more migrants will cross the Channel this year, adding to the backlog of claims that a Labour government would have to process.
A third of small-boat arrivals have been from countries from which more than 80 per cent of asylum claims are granted: Sudan (with a 99 per cent asylum grant rate), Eritrea (99 per cent), Syria (99 per cent), Afghanistan (98 per cent) and Iran (83 per cent).
The Council expects Labour to start transferring the 90,000 migrants to the asylum system, even before it repeals Mr Sunak's Illegal Migration Act.
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