{"id":658387,"date":"2025-12-27T19:51:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/658387\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T19:51:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T19:51:30","slug":"britains-40000-small-boat-crossings-are-nothing-un-refugee-chief-argues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/658387\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s 40,000 small boat crossings are NOTHING, UN refugee chief argues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 41,000 people who have arrived in the UK by small boats this year is a paltry figure compared with the pressures faced by other countries, it has been suggested.<\/p>\n

The outgoing head of the United Nations refugee agency said Britain is capable of accommodating 40,000 refugees a year.<\/p>\n

Filippo Grandi argued that previous Conservative Governments were responsible for fostering a sense of \u201cchaos\u201d around immigration in Britain.<\/p>\n

The Italian diplomat, who was elected UN high commissioner for refugees in 2016, made the remarks in an interview conducted by the Australian actress Cate Blanchett on BBC Radio 4.<\/p>\n

He warned that the right to seek asylum was \u201cunder threat around the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Grandi also urged Western Governments to provide more funding for his agency as it ramps up support for refugees travelling across the continent.<\/p>\n

The 68-year-old, who is stepping down at the end of the month, used the interview to deliver a parting critique of politicians, arguing they were partly responsible for negative public attitudes towards migrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing that creates a hostile environment as much as a badly organised welcome, and unfortunately we\u2019ve seen that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AA small boat carrying people thought to be migrants near Gravelines in France | PA<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the UK, the small boats and the challenges of dealing with these people \u2014 and some of the choices that were made, which the Government is now trying to correct \u2014 have conveyed the wrong impression that this brings chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to official figures, the number of migrants arriving in Britain by small boat this year has now passed 41,000.<\/p>\n

The figure represents a significant challenge to Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s pledge to \u201csmash the gangs\u201d \u2014 a reference to people smugglers paid by asylum seekers to facilitate dangerous crossings of the English Channel.<\/p>\n

Mr Grandi\u2019s reference to \u201cchoices that were made\u201d is likely to relate to the effective suspension of asylum processing under the Conservatives, which led to a substantial backlog of cases.<\/p>\n

\"Shabana<\/p>\n

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has set out plans to tackle the crisis<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

As a result, measures such as housing asylum seekers in hotels were introduced \u2014 a move that has sparked anger among some Britons and prompted regular demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Labour has pledged to clear the backlog and move all asylum seekers out of hotels.<\/p>\n

Mr Grandi said the number of people crossing the Channel this year was comparable to the number arriving each day in countries such as Chad.<\/p>\n

He called for immigration systems in Western nations to be \u201cmuch better organised\u201d, including returning people who do not qualify for asylum.<\/p>\n

\"Keir<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer is under intense pressure to fix the migrant crisis<\/p>\n

| GB NEWS <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this doesn\u2019t happen, people say there\u2019s no leadership in this chaos \u2014 it\u2019s dangerous \u2014 and then they listen to those who say, \u2018push back, build walls, don\u2019t rescue people at sea\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The diplomat also said British and other Western politicians must do more to help their own populations accept migrants.<\/p>\n

In November, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood unveiled a radical plan to clamp down on the migrant crisis, including proposals to make refugee status temporary.<\/p>\n

Guaranteed financial support for asylum seekers could also be scrapped under the changes.<\/p>\n

She said the Government would also create new \u201csafe and legal routes\u201d for genuine refugees seeking to come to the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 41,000 people who have arrived in the UK by small boats this year is a paltry figure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,5804,12,1144,285,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-658387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-migrant-crisis","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115793276791463243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}