Lee Anderson’s Bold Three-Word Plan to Solve the Small Boat Crisis Amid Surging Channel Crossings
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has launched a fierce critique of Labor’s approach to tackling the surge in Channel crossings, calling for immediate action to return migrant boats to France. Speaking on GB News, Anderson expressed outrage over the increasing numbers of arrivals during the festive season.
“I am sick to death – we’ve seen it over Christmas, 1,500 illegal migrants, young males coming into this country. It makes me sick to the pit of my stomach,” Anderson said. He insisted that boats should be turned back “the same day” they attempt to cross, citing an instance where this approach reportedly worked. “We saw it a few months back, where actually we did turn the boat back in the English Channel, it went back to France the same day,” he claimed, reported by GB News.
New figures highlight a 25 percent increase in Channel crossings in 2024, with 36,816 people making the journey compared to 29,437 in 2023. The final crossings of the year occurred on December 29, when 291 people arrived in six boats from France.
Anderson criticized Labour’s efforts to combat people smuggling, dismissing their measures as ineffective. “They’re getting put straight into hotels, and we heard the Labour Party bleating on about smashing the gangs, and they’ve arrested somebody who supplies the boats – what a load of nonsense that is,” he said, according to the Express.
The Reform MP argued that only a policy of immediate returns would deter crossings. “Nobody in this country, apart from the wets, lies awake at night worrying about what the French will say. Turn these men back, and they will stop coming,” Anderson declared.
He also reiterated Reform UK’s position on leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a stance frequently advocated by Deputy Leader Richard Tice. “It’s time to turn these young men back the same day. That’s the only way you’ll stop them coming,” Anderson concluded.
The surge in crossings comes during the deadliest year on record for Channel journeys, with 53 lives lost in 2024. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has emphasized the moral responsibility to tackle crossings but refrained from setting a deadline for reducing numbers. She advocates targeting criminal gangs behind the smuggling operations while ruling out creating additional safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has placed international cooperation at the heart of his strategy, with the National Crime Agency currently leading 70 live investigations into organized immigration crime and human trafficking.