James Cleverly Takes Credit For Christmas Pause In Small Boat Crossings – Even As Storm Gerrit Rages
Home secretary James Cleverly just celebrated the UK’s first Christmas without any small boat arrivals since 2018.
Home Office data shows there were no Channel crossings on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day, meaning there have been 10 consecutive days without any recorded arrivals.
The last recorded journey was on December 16, when a single boat carried 55 people across the English Channel from France.
On X, formerly Twitter, Cleverly appeared to take credit, writing: “There were no small boat arrivals over Christmas for the first time since they started in 2018.
“Last night, our Border Force officers and their French partners worked together to stop a boat launching on the beaches.
“They’ve played a crucial role in cutting crossings by 35%.”
There were no small boat arrivals over Christmas for the first time since they started in 2018.
— James Cleverly???????? (@JamesCleverly) December 27, 2023
Last night, our Border Force officers and their French partners worked together to stop a boat launching on the beaches.
They've played a crucial role in cutting crossings by 35%.
However, Storm Gerrit has also been battering the UK across the festive period – the Met Office released yellow weather warnings earlier this week, and winds of up to 70mph and heavy rain battered Kent on Wednesday.
Christmas is known to be a particularly quiet time for small boat crossings, too.
And the Christmas period does usually see a fall in arrivals – 90 were recorded on Christmas Day in 2022, but with no arrivals on December 24 or 26.
The year before that, there were 67 arrivals on Christmas Day, but again, none on either the day before or the day after.
In 2020 and 2019, no arrivals were recorded on December 24 or 25, although boats arrived again on Boxing Day.
And in 2018 – when these records began – there were no arrivals on Christmas Eve, 45 on Christmas Day and three on Boxing Day.
Still, crossings are down compared to last year, meaning the provisional total for 2023 stands at 29,437.
Last year, it reached a record level at 45,774.
Stopping the small boat crossings was one of Rishi Sunak’s five goals set out at the beginning of the year.
He promised to “detain” and “swiftly remove” any migrants who arrived.
But, when recently questioned by other MPs at the Commons Liaison Committee about when he would actually meet this promise, he said there was no “firm date”.
Sunak has also vowed to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda but not a single person has been flown over there yet.
The Supreme Court ruled it was illegal in November because of the “real risk” asylum seekers would be sent back to their country of origin – which would breach international law.