Eight migrants died in a failed overnight crossing on Sunday, September 13th. The men, from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Iran, and Afghanistan, died when their boat broke up on rocks near the coastline of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais area. Local authorities reported rescuing an additional 51 migrants from the same vessel.
The tragedy coincides with 2024’s second largest recorded migrant Channel crossings to date, where 801 migrants reached UK shores in 14 boats. It has focused further attention on government policy, following the failure of the previous Conservative administration under Rishi Sunak to ‘stop the boats’ and the eventual scrapping of the much-hyped ‘Rwanda plan’ for offshoring asylum applicants.
Labour prime minister Sir Keir Starmer is due to attend meetings with his Italian counterpart tomorrow (Tuesday, September 17th), where illegal migration will be a central topic for discussion. According to the Guardian, house journal of the British liberal-left, Starmer’s mere proximity to Giorgia Meloni puts him “under pressure to distance UK from Italy’s hard-right immigration plans.” Specifically, Italy’s arrangements with countries Albania and Tunisia could offer Britain insights into managing migration—attracting the ire of the Left.
A UK Home Office representative announced,
The principles that we’ll be following in everything that we do is that it is workable, affordable and in line with international humanitarian law … But it is vital that we stop people from starting these journeys, we’ve seen far too many deaths in the Mediterranean as well as the Channel.
With the boldness, commitment and rhetorical skill voters have come to expect from Starmer, he said he is “interested” in learning about Italy’s scheme to send migrants rescued at sea to Albania.
