A four-year-old girl and other four people died crossing Channel trying to reach Britain Tuesday. The tragedy struck hours after Rishi Sunak vowed to push on with deportation flights to Rwanda.
The dead were three men, a woman and a child, per French coastguard.
What Happened?
Hundreds set off for the UK from France early Tuesday morning, taking advantage of calm weather the day after Parliament finally approved a new law to send arrivals to East Africa.
Officials React
Ministers have said that one of their prime concerns in passing the new law is deterring people smugglers from putting people on the water in unseaworthy boats.
Following the reports of deaths in the English Channel, Home Secretary James Cleverly said: ‘These tragedies have to stop. I will not accept a status quo which costs so many lives.’
Rishi Sunak Reacts
Reacting to the news, Sunak says the tragic incident proves Rwanda flights must start soon.
Political Tussle Over the Controversial Law
Before the tragedy struck, Sunak Tuesday morning said he would let nothing ‘stand in our way’, with hopes flights may start in July.
The first asylum seekers are expected to be rounded up and detained within days after a political tussle over the controversial law finally ended in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Â
The House of Lords had been engaged in an extended tussle over the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill on Monday, sending it back to the Commons five times in a bid to secure changes.
But they relented just after Monday midnight, paving the way for it to become law and allow delayed flights to start in July, in a move Tories hope will boost the party’s hopes of being re-elected later this year.
