Home Secretary blames the weather for Channel crossings and not the government

The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has blamed the weather for record numbers of migrants crossing the English Channel.

Cooper said the smuggling gangs are “taking advantage of the much higher number of calm weather days” as a record 10,000 have made the journey to Britain’s shores.

Cooper was asked if she thinks she is doing a good job stopping the boats, she said, “The boats are high and this is undermining border security, it’s putting lives at risk.

“It’s why it’s so essential to take action on the criminal gangs that are underpinning this vile trade in people.

“They have been taking advantage of the much higher number of calm weather days.”

The Home Secretary said this “cannot continue” as “the impact on our border security of the weather is so significant”.

Cooper said that the government has “persuaded the French government to change their rules” to allow the police to be involved.

She was asked over the number of crossings by the BBC she said that the smuggling gangs are launching boats “further up the coast, and then people climb onto the boats, migrants climb onto the boats in shallow waters, knowing that the French rules for very many years have meant the French police could not and would not intervene as soon as they were actually in the water.”

She added, “We’ve now persuaded the French government to change their rules, to change their laws effectively, so that the French police can intervene with those boats and prevent people getting on them.”

The Home Secretary said these changes will come into effect “over the next few months.”