More than 50,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since Labour came to power, despite Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs” behind them.
It is the quickest timeframe in which the milestone has been met under a prime minister – 403 days – and education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith admitted earlier on Tuesday that the number of people making the dangerous crossing was “unacceptable”.
