Rishi Sunak claimed his crackdown on small boats was having a “much better result” than expected – despite the arrival of nearly 700 migrants on Friday.
The PM also said the government “had” to get migrants out of hotels – just hours after it emerged the Home Office is spending more than half a million pounds a day to reserve thousands of empty beds.
Speaking to reporters on his way to the NATO summit in Lithuania, Mr Sunak denied that he had been wrong to claim his small boats policy was “starting to work” last month.
Friday saw a record numbers of crossings for this year – seeing 686 people arrive in small boats from across the English Channel.
However, the prime minister said he had always predicted that the numbers coming to Britain would rise during the summer.
“The fact that they [the numbers] are down for five months of the year, the fact that they are still down, even if it’s less than what people are expecting, is a much better result than anyone was expecting,” he said.
Mr Sunak said his policy had to be judged on the trends when he took office. At that stage the numbers were increasing every year, he said.
The PM added: “We need to get people out of hotels, we need to save the taxpayer billions. We need to get the backlog down. But fundamentally we need to do what it compassionate and fair.”
He said he did not think a system where people were dying in the Channel in their bid to get to Britain was one that should “persist”, adding: “It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to happen overnight”.
The PM is under huge pressure from within his own party to deliver on small boats. In January he promised he would “stop the boats”, and urged voters to judge him on that pledge.
MPs are due to discuss the small boats legislation, the Illegal Migration Bill, in the Commons on Monday.
After peers passed 20 amendments to water down the controversial bill, the government has agreed a series of concessions as it pushes to pass the bill before parliament’s summer recess starts at the end of next week.
Home secretary Suella Braverman revealed the concessions on Monday evening – including limits on the detention of unaccompanied children, who will be granted immigration bail after eight days rather than the current proposed 28.
The government will also keep the current limit of 72 hours on the detention of pregnant women – though this can be extended to seven days on the authorisation of a minister.
Another change will prevent people who have already entered the UK without permission from being removed retrospectively after the legislation receives royal assent.
The government still faces potential challenges despite the changes, with Theresa May and Iain Duncan Smith among senior Conservatives to air concerns that the legislation must go further in offering modern slavery protections.
It comes as MPs heard the Home Office is paying for thousands of empty hotel beds reserved for migrants to avoid overcrowding at processing centres.
Home Office second permanent secretary Simon Ridley told the public accounts select committee the government keeps a “buffer” of about 5,000 beds across the country in case of a sudden influx of Channel crossings.
The Bill is central to Mr Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” remains mired in difficulties. It aims to ensure those who arrive in the UK illegally to be detained and promptly removed – either to their home country or a third country, such as Rwanda.
But critics have argued it is morally unacceptable and unworkable, and the Rwanda plan is now set for a battle at the Supreme Court after it was rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Former cabinet minister Brandon Lewis warns in a new report by the Policy Exchange think tank that the costs “risks fuelling public resentment, especially in some of the most deprived and left-behind parts of the UK”.