Downing Street has insisted that it is dealing with a “migration emergency” after a record number crossed the English Channel yesterday - despite delaying MPs trying to pass the Rwanda Bill until the middle of next month.
The Prime Minister's official spokesperson said: "The legislation is dealing with a migration emergency and we are introducing that legislation as soon as we possibly can to reduce the number of people taking the perilous journey across the Channel.”
He added that it was “frustrating” that the House of Lords had not passed the Safety of Rwanda Bill on Wednesday night.
The spokesperson said: "It is exactly because we are still seeing people making this perilous journey across the Channel, including people in the last few days, that the PM wants parliamentarians across the House to get behind this Bill and to stop the boats."
Downing Street has insisted that it is dealing with a “migration emergency” after a record number crossed the English Channel yesterday
PA
But a Tory rebel described the legislation as a "total dud". They added: "It won’t stop the boats. These characters at the top of government aren’t serious people.
"They’re fighting for survival day by day, tracking at 19 per cent in the polls, and letting the country suffer in the meantime."
Some 514 people are believed to have crossed the English Channel on Wednesday, the highest number on a single day so far this year, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.
The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 4,043.
This is 10 per cent higher than the total at this point last year, which was 3,683, and 25 per cent higher than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 3,229.
There were 10 boats detected on Wednesday, which suggests an average of around 51 people per boat.
In 2023, there were 29,437 arrivals - down 36 per cent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
The Rwanda Bill is not expected to return to the Commons until April 15, after the Government suffered seven defeats in the Lords last night. The legislation returned to the Lords after MPs voted down 10 amendments introduced by the upper house.
Reacting to the latest migration figures, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Tories have "let criminal gangs take hold along the Channel".
She said: "More people crossed the Channel in a single day yesterday than the Tories plan to send to Rwanda in a year - yet their Rwanda scheme will cost the taxpayer a staggering half a billion pounds.
"It shows Rishi Sunak’s entire approach is just about gimmicks and headlines instead of getting a proper grip.
The Rwanda Bill is not expected to return to the Commons until April 15
PA
"Over 500 people arrived in small boats yesterday alone, yet ministers have admitted they will only be sending a few hundred people to Rwanda. The Tories have let criminal gangs take hold along the Channel undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.
The Shadow Home Secretary added: "The man Sunak appointed as Immigration Minister has said all the Conservative government wants to do is get a few 'symbolic flights' off to Rwanda just before the General Election. They are not interested in actually solving the chaos they have created in our asylum system and at our borders.
"We need to end the gimmicks and get a grip. Labour will clear the asylum backlog, end hotel use, and set up a new returns and enforcement unit so those with no right to be in the UK are swiftly returned. Labour has a plan to strengthen our border security, relentlessly pursue the smuggling gangs, and restore order to the border once more."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHRISTOPHER HOPE