LONDON — Pressure on U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to stem small boat crossings across the English Channel intensified this weekend after at least six people died making the voyage on Saturday.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on social media that the dangerous crossings “desperately need to stop,” while Conservative MP Jake Berry, a former Conservative Party chairman, warned that “only radical changes can truly turn the tide” in an article for the Sunday Express.
French authorities said on Saturday that six people died off the coast of France, and another two people were possibly missing, after a boat trying to cross the Channel capsized. Nearly 60 migrants were rescued and taken to either Britain or France.
The tragedy came after the U.K. government spent last week highlighting its efforts to reduce the number of of asylum seekers arriving in small boats.
It faced a setback on Friday after dozens of asylum seekers were evacuated from a controversial offshore barge, which is being used as temporary asylum accommodation, after deadly bacteria was found in the water supply. Ministers had been keen to argue that “luxurious hotel accommodation” had been “part of the pull” for criminals trafficking people to the U.K.
Speaking on Sunday morning, the Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said there was “really no reason for people to risk their lives in this fashion,” and “everything possible” should be done to halt the crossings.
“It’s a tragedy, but sadly it’s going to continue happening as long as people are put to sea in small, unstable, leaking rafts across the English Channel,” he said.
In his Express article, Berry said Britain should leave the European Court of Human Rights and pass its own British Bill of Rights. A deportation flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda was abandoned last year after a last-minute intervention from the European Court of Human Rights.
Berry is among a number of backbench Conservative MPs arguing that Britain should leave the international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Asked about the prospect last week, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said the government would do “whatever is required” to tackle migrant numbers.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman chaired a meeting of the cross-agency Small Boats Operational Command Gold on Saturday.