JUST one per cent of migrants who have arrived in small boats across the English Channel have been removed from Britain, it emerged last night.
It came as hardline Tory MPs turned the screw on ministers and officials over the scale of illegal immigration yesterday.
PAJust 1% of illegal migrants who have arrived into the UK via small boats across the English Channel have been sent back to their country of origin[/caption]
AFPRishi Sunak tried to unite Conservative backbenchers behind his flagship migration bill yesterday[/caption]
The Home Office has also finally revealed the £22million bill for the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge — a cost of about £205 per migrant per night so far.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tried to unite Conservative backbenchers behind his immigration blueprint yesterday — after right-wing Rwanda plan rebels backed off from sinking it until the new year.
And the PM declared Channel crossings had fallen by a third on his watch, insisting he “won’t rest” until the Rwanda flights take off.
But the size of the challenge the Government faces was revealed by figures showing only 1,182 migrants from small boat crossings have been sent back since 2020.
That is a one per cent return rate of the near 110,000 who have arrived over the past three years.
The vast majority of those removed were Albanian — a country which the UK has a returns agreement with.
Just 420 non-Albanians were sent back over the period.
New immigration ministers Michael Tomlinson and Tom Pursglove were grilled over the figures at a brutal Commons showdown.
Incensed Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson asked: “Is that an acceptable figure?”
Mr Tomlinson told MPs: “The numbers need to be significantly higher than they are.”
And last night, fellow MP Marco Longhi accused the Home Office of “sheer incompetence”.
Tory MP Tom Hunt told The Sun: “This is clearly totally unacceptable and clearly underlines why we need a robust deterrent. We need the Rwanda policy working at scale fast — or we’re snookered.”
Mr Pursglove added that the PM is likely to miss a pledge to clear a legacy backlog of 92,000 asylum cases by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, top Home Office mandarin Sir Matthew Rycroft was forced to admit the £22.4million price tag for the Bibby Stockholm barge, moored off the Dorset coast.
In a letter to MPs revealing the lucrative contract, he added: “The value for money assessment is currently being updated to give the latest per person, per night cost and we will provide details in the New Year once this is complete.”
Labour boss of the Home Affairs Committee, Dame Diana Johnson, said she was “flabbergasted” the analysis had not already been done.
But it suggests the 200 migrants aboard the vessel — hired to shift them out of costly hotels — is currently working out around £205 per person, per night.
The price to the public purse of housing migrants in hotels is around £8million a day and forecast to spiral to £32million if the migrant problem continues.
Ministers also revealed yesterday that 132 of the 154 migrant children who disappeared from hotels last summer are still missing.
Some 103 have since become adults, while 29 are still kids.
It came as Mr Sunak attempted to wrest back control of his party after heading off a Tuesday night revolt on his Rwanda Bill.
Right-wing Tories have warned of more trouble if the Prime Minister fails to beef up the legislation after Christmas, when it returns to the Commons.
But Home Secretary James Cleverly insisted “the Conservative Party is united” in its aim to get the Rwanda plan through.
He said he would meet rebel group commander MP Mark Francois to “understand their thinking”.
But he warned “killing the bill” would be the worst move, as it would sink the Government’s entire Rwanda policy.
In a Spectator interview, Mr Sunak said he was “keen to crack on” with removal flights.
He trumpeted his success in slashing Channel crossings, saying: “If someone had said to me, ‘You are going to have reduced the number of small boat arrivals into this country by a third’, after they had quadrupled in the last few years, I think someone would have said, ‘What are you smoking?’.”
AlamyTory deputy chairman Lee Anderson grilled new immigration ministers Michael Tomlinson and Tom Pursglove over small boat figures[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
