The government has ‘underdelivered’ on its pledge to control the number of migrants crossing the Channel, according to Bracknell MP James Sunderland.  

The Conservative politician made the remarks during an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News following the release of government figures which revealed that 25,000 people have made the treacherous journey so far this year.  

The number of people reaching the UK in small boats from France during the whole of 2019 was 1,843. Mr Sunderland says this is a “serious problem” and he “suspect[s] [the government] has underdelivered”.  

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Home Secretary Priti Patel announced in April that a “world-first” agreement had been signed with Rwanda, under which the east African nation will receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived “illegally”.  

However, the first deportation flight, due to take off on June 14, was grounded amid legal challenges, with further hearings scheduled for next month.  

Mr Sunderland said The Modern Slavery Act and the Human Rights Act are “at the heart of the problem” and legislation needs to be enhanced to enable the government to “take back control”.  

“For the last two and a half, three years of this government we have set the framework whereby we can now make the changes that we need to do.  

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“The important thing is we have a plan. We’ve got to continue with the bill of rights […], we need to make sure that we make it more difficult for these people to bring traffickers across,” he added. 

Despite the growing numbers, the small boat arrivals are a fraction of the number of people going to mainland Europe.

Data from the UN’s refugee agency shows at least 120,441 people arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea last year.