Nigel Farage: Migrant tragedy shows why Britain MUST stop small boats crossing English Channel - 'Not a surprise'

Four people have died after a small boat capsized in the English Channel and 43 others were rescued off the coast of Kent on Wednesday morning, according to Government sources.

The Royal Navy, French navy, HM Coastguard and RNLI lifeboats are all involved in the major operation.

Emergency calls reporting a migrant boat in distress were received by the UK coastguard shortly before 3am.

Distressing pictures have been released as emergency services respond to the incident in Kent.

Gareth Fuller

Taking to Bev Turner about the incident on GB News Nigel Farage said: “No surprise. We can be shocked, we hear that three people have died and we have no idea what that number might climb to.

“If it’s an active search and rescue mission now, the fear is that the number could be a lot higher, but we can’t be surprised.

“I’ve seen those boats, first hand both at sea and on land. They’re made for one trip only. The plywood bottoms are literally glued in and they can deflate very, very easily.

“So we don’t yet know whether it was a collision, a deflation but we can’t be surprised. The real surprise is that we haven’t had a major incident like this since November of last year.”

There are likely to have been freezing temperatures in the Channel overnight amid a cold snap sweeping across the UK.

It follows a fatal incident in November 2021 when at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK from France.

Nigel added: “Obviously on a human level, it’s absolutely horrid. This issue, which has been going to the very top of British politics, I just wonder when we reflect on the loss of life, perhaps that should make us even more determined to stop these crossings from happening.”

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, after being rescued by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Friday December 9, 2022.
Gareth Fuller

The rescue comes less than a day after the Prime Minister announced a raft of new plans to try to stop the illegal flow of migrant boats and reduce the asylum backlog of around 150,000 cases.

“What Rishi Sunak said, you can just wind the clock back to Boris Johnson saying that, you can wind it even further to David Cameron saying if you come here illegally you won’t be allowed to stay, that’s what the public want to hear and that’s what the conservative supporting newspapers want to hear,” Nigel said.

He added: “In terms of substance much of it was hopeless. Oh there’ll be no more hotels, we’re going to put your in Butlin’s instead, well big deal. We’re going to put officers at Tirana airport in Albania. Well they’re coming across the channel in boats, that’s not going to help.”