Migrant says ‘this is for Rishi Sunak’ as dinghy leaves France to cross Channel

Migrant crossings hit another record high as those embarking on journeys from France to the UK shouted ‘this is for Rishi Sunak’.

A migrant was heard making the declaration on Monday morning while sailing an inflatable boat down a riverway before it picked up more people from a beach near Calais and travelled onwards across the English Channel.

Footage captured by the PA news agency – just a day after another migrant died while attempting the journey to the UK – showed a group travelling on a black dinghy before reaching the sea, where dozens of migrants waded into the water at Gravelines and pulled themselves onto the crowded boat.

It comes as the latest figures show there had been a record number of crossings for the first seven months of a calendar year.

According to the Home Office, 255 migrants made the journey on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 16,457.

The previous record for arrivals in the seven months from January to July was 16,420 in 2022, with 14,732 making the journey in the same period last year.

Men, women and young children, some wearing life jackets, could be seen appearing from sand dunes and walking across the beach.

Some youngsters were carried on shoulders, but families turned back from the sea as others walked out into the water to be picked up by the inflatable boat.

Police patrolled the beach and appeared to approach families before they turned away.

Volunteers from refugee charity Utopia 56 were also at the scene and told PA they deal with emergencies, check the boats at sea are not in trouble, distribute clothes and monitor how police engage with migrants on the beaches.

Volunteer Pablo Eymard-Picollec said of the families who turned back: “I think a few police officers talked to them and told them to stay on the beach.

“As you can see on the boat, it was really, really crowded, so I think they assumed it was too risky for them to go, but we have to speak with them to know for sure the reason they didn’t go today.”

At the weekend the French coast guard rescued 34 migrants, while one person died, after a “heavily loaded” boat got into difficulty overnight on Saturday into Sunday.

Another Utopia 56 volunteer, who asked not to be named, said they believe it is more dangerous now as the police have militarised the border.

“More and more people are coming in one boat because there is less chance for them to try,” they said.

“So there are more people now in one boat than before, there is more risk and things like yesterday.”

The charity patrol group said they saw four boats leaving the French coastline on Monday morning.

In the Commons, Reform UK’s Ashfield MP Lee Anderson accused France of being “complicit” in migrant Channel crossings in light of the latest activity, asking Yvette Cooper: “Does the Home Secretary agree with me it’s time now to stop paying the French any more money until they stop being complicit in this evil trade?”

Ms Cooper said the crossings were “extremely dangerous” as she mentioned the latest death, adding: “Criminal gangs are deliberately cramming boats to maximise their profits, and they have been getting away with it for far too long.

“That is why we need a new border security command in place, but it is also why we need to work not simply with the French police but also with police forces and organisations right across Europe, and beyond, in order to pursue the gangs and to prevent the boats reaching the French coast in the first place”, she said.

Last year, 29,437 migrants made the journey to the UK, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

Monthly data comes from the most recent Home Office quarterly update on irregular migration to the UK, which presents the “final and authoritative statistics on small boat arrivals”.