Channel rescue: Suella Braverman says government must ‘end these crossings’ after four people die in boat capsize – latest updates

The majority of people coming across the Channel are people who are “fleeing war, and violence and bloodshed”, the chief executive of the Refugee Council has said.

“Let’s just first of all pause and remember who these people are. They’re men, women and children like you and me, but unlike you and me, they don’t have a safe place to live,” Enver Solomon told Sky News.

“The majority of people coming across the Channel are people who are fleeing war and violence and bloodshed,” added Solomon.

Unless we see this as an issue which is driven by a fact that there is violence and bloodshed and persecution across the world, we won’t be able to deal with it.

Small boat arrivals accounted for 41% of asylum applications in the year ending September 2022, according to government figures published in November.

An increase in people arriving in 2022 is a result of more boats making the journey across the Channel and an increase in the average number of people on each boat, according to Home Office figures. Boats which arrived from July to September had an average of 44 people per small boat.

From January to September, half of the small boat arrivals were from Albanians, 35%, and Afghans, 15%, according to government figures. Other common nationalities arriving by small boats include Iraqis, Iranians and Syrians.