There have been reports of ‘several fatalities’ in the Channel just hours after the government’s controversial Rwanda Bill cleared parliamentary hurdles in the early hours of the morning.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak said “nothing will stand in our way” of getting flights to Rwanda off the ground, as the Government braced itself for legal challenges to the scheme to send asylum seekers to the east African country.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration Bill) cleared Parliament shortly after midnight after peers backed down, ending resistance to the scheme.
The Prime Minister hopes the Rwanda scheme will deter migrants from seeking to cross the English Channel, but on Tuesday morning a small boat was seen leaving the Calais shoreline with French police looking on.
There were reports from French media of several fatalities among those attempting to cross the Channel on Tuesday.
The UK’s illegal migration minister, Michael Tomlinson, said there had been deaths in the Channel now for nine consecutive months.
Asked about the reports on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “It is absolutely chilling to hear that.”
