Britain's plan to stop migrants arriving in small boats has successfully reduced migrant crossings and is beginning to work, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday (June 5).

"In the five months since I launched the plan, crossings are now down 20% compared to last year," Sunak said, according to several news agencies. 

Earlier that day, Sunak visited Dover on the southern UK coast across the channel from France, and described the whole situation as "tragic, morally wrong, and profoundly unfair."

"We've got organized criminals risking people's lives in makeshift dinghies. Gangs trying to usurp the role of government; taking it upon themselves to decide who comes to our country," said Sunak in his speech published on the UK government website. 

Sunak's pronouncements come in a bid to shore up support for the 'Illegal Migration Bill', which is currently making its way through parliament.

If passed into legislation, people arriving on small boats will be detained and deported back to their country of origin or a designated safe third country such as Rwanda.

Read more: UK: 'Illegal migration bill' begins amendment process in upper house of parliament

Cross-country agreements to curb migration 

The UK has long been grappling with arrivals on its shores and has initiated a list of measures to curb migration, including agreements with other European countries. 

Eager to show cross-country agreements to decrease arrivals as an effective migration control policy, Sunak also said that the number of small boats arriving from Albania has also fallen by almost 90% and that Britain was returning more migrants to the country. 

A record number of 45,700 migrants reached the UK last year, of which a quarter were Albanians. Since 2020, the number of Albanian migrants crossing the English Channel has been increasing. Last year, UK government data recorded more than 12,000 arrivals of Albanians. 

A BBC report last March quoted Sunak as describing Albania as "a safe, prosperous European country" and that in 2022, more people arrived in small boats from Albania than from any other country. 

In December, Sunak and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, entered into an agreement to curb illegal migration. The UK government has reported that more than 1,000 Albanian nationals have been returned since the two countries signed the deal. 

Meanwhile, last November, the UK and France also entered into the biggest bilateral deal to stop small boats from reaching Britain through France.

The UK has committed to pay €72.2 million to France over two years, to increase its security forces patrolling its northern beaches by 40%. Technological resources will also be bolstered to better detect and intercept boats. 

Cost-saving measures 

Over the weekend, UK Migration Minister Robert Jenrick came under fire after a BBC interview reported the two-year price tag of the Illegal Migration Bill would add up to over €7 billion covering accommodation, deportation costs, and removals. 

Last week, protests erupted after a group of 40 asylum seekers refused to move into the Comfort Hotel in central London after being told they would have to share rooms with up to three other people. The asylum seekers camped out in the street outside the hotel in protest. 

Jenrick said that he did not think it was unreasonable to ask male asylum seekers to share rooms to save on accommodation costs.

In addition, the UK has purchased two more barges to house another 1,000 asylum seekers in a move to reduce reliance on hotels to house asylum seekers. 

More than 5,000 asylum seekers in total would be moved out of hotels, which cost an estimated €6.9 million (£6 million) per day, into two new vessels and two new sites, news agency Reuters reported. 

Migration must be 'tackled on multiple fronts'

In the UK parliament yesterday, the opposition Labour Party criticized Sunak for failing to cut the backlog of tens of thousands of asylum claims which has reached a record high of 170,000.

"It has gone up, not down, since December," said Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, according to the official transcript of the UK parliament published by Hansard. 

Home Secretary Suella Braverman defended the controversial 'Illegal Migration' Bill and the progress made on managing migrant arrivals.

"This is a complex and enduring problem, which we must tackle on multiple fronts. It is a moral imperative," Braverman said, according to official government transcripts.

Braverman added that parliament will introduce new safe and legal routes for those at risk of war and persecution to come to seek refuge and protection in the UK, but would bar those coming illegally to the UK. 

"The British people are generous and welcoming, but they rightly expect immigration to be controlled. Coming here illegally from other safe countries is unnecessary, unsafe, and unfair. It must stop," Braverman concluded.