The scale of migrant Channel migrant crisis: Aerial photos show dozens of outboard motors and inflatable dinghies laid out in Dover after being used by asylum seekers to enter UK

• Over 15,000 migrants have made the perilous trip across the channel this year

Aerial images have shown the extent of the Channel migrant crisis as battered dinghies and used outboard motors lay discarded in a haunting board graveyard.

The mass of rolled-up inflatable dinghies and outboard engines were laid out next to one another and spalled across the Port Authority yard in Dover.

The equipment would have likely been used by migrants and asylum seekers who were picked up at sea whilst making the perilous journey crossing the English Channel from Calais in France to England.

The newly released images – originally taken in March – showing dozens of pieces of equipment comes as Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick claimed the UK could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to help tackle the problem of small boats crossing the English Channel.

Some 339 migrants were detected crossing the Channel on Friday and Saturday after an eight-day hiatus amid poor weather conditions at sea, taking the provisional total for 2023 to date to 15,071.

It also follows news that of the latest available data revealing the number of people waiting for a decision on their asylum application stood at nearly 173,000 in March – the equivalent of around 345 Bibby barges.

An aerial view shows rolled-up inflatable dinghies and outboard engines, stored in a Port Authority yard in Dover that are believed to have been used by migrants and asylum seekers who were picked up at sea whilst crossing the English Channel from France to England

inflatable dinghies and outboard engines are pictured rolled up on tarmac at a Port Authority yard in Dover, originally pictured in March 2023

Mr Jenrick said the Government will do ‘whatever is required’, even if that means pulling out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Government has insisted it can deliver on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to ‘stop the boats’ within the convention.

But with the plan to send migrants to Rwanda still facing a Supreme Court battle, there is pressure within the Conservative Party to pull out of the ECHR to make it easier to address the situation.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has previously expressed her personal view that the UK should leave the convention, which is ruled on by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The ECHR is a Council of Europe convention, rather than a European Union one, so the UK’s adherence to it was not affected by Brexit.

But pulling out of the convention would put the UK at odds with the majority of European nations and could also cause complications over the operation of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland and post-Brexit deals with the EU.

On Times Radio, Mr Jenrick would not rule out withdrawal from the convention, saying the Government will do ‘whatever is necessary’.

‘You can see from the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and myself, our total commitment to this challenge,’ he said.

‘That’s why we’re working on every possible front. That’s why we have produced the most comprehensive plan, I believe, of any European country to tackle this issue.

‘And we’ll do whatever is necessary ultimately to defend our borders and to bring order to our asylum system.’

Pressed directly on whether that could include leaving the ECHR, he said: ‘We will do whatever is required, take whatever necessary action is needed.’

A mass of rolled-up inflatable dinghies and outboard engines have been pictured laid out next to one another spalled across the Port Authority yard in Dover

Dozens of rolled-up dinghies are pictured at a Port Authority yard in Dover that are believed to have been used by migrants and asylum seekers

It was earlier revealed that a total of 172,758 people were waiting for an initial decision on an asylum application at the end of March 2023, Home Office figures show.

This was up 57 per cent from 109,735 at the end of March 2022 and is the highest figure since current records began in 2010.

Of the 172,758, a total of 128,812 had been waiting for an initial decision for more than six months.

In March 2022 the number waiting longer than six months stood at 73,207, or 67% of the total.

The Bibby Stockholm barge, which is moored at Portland in Dorset, has been refurbished to accommodate up to 500 asylum seekers. The first 15 were taken on board on Monday.

The vessel is one of a number of locations intended to house migrants while their asylum applications are being considered by UK authorities.

Other sites include the former Royal Air Force base at Wethersfield in Essex, which received its first occupants in July, and the RAF base at Scampton in Lincolnshire, where plans have reportedly been delayed.

Both sites, which are the subject of legal challenges by local councils, are expected to be able to house nearly 2,000 people.

Asylum seekers are also placed in smaller types of accommodation, such as hotels, or privately-run flats and shared houses.

Some 50,546 asylum seekers were living in hotels in the UK at the end of June 2023, up from 47,518 at the end of March, according to Home Office data.

A further 58,636 were in ‘dispersed accommodation’, such as flats and houses, up from 56,979.

Source: Read Full Article