Sunak isn’t halting migrant boats or chasing traffickers: he’s just chasing headlines again

‘Last year saw a record 45,756 people crossing the Channel in small boats.’ Asylum seekers arrive in Dover, June 2022. Photograph: Chris Eades/Getty Images

The government cannot be accused of under-promising when it comes to ending the practice of refugees crossing the Channel in dinghies.

Ever since former home secretary Sajid Javid declared a “major incident” in the Channel in December 2018 – a year when just a few hundred people attempted to cross – the government has been promising solutions. The latest plan, from Rishi Sunak and the current home secretary, Suella Braverman, is a new law to stop people who enter the UK on small boats from claiming asylum. “Make no mistake,” said the prime minister, “if you come here illegally, you will not to be able to stay.”