nearly 700 migrants attempted to cross the English Channel in one day, the highest figure of the year

At least 696 people crossed the English Channel on Monday August 1 in small boats to reach the English coast, according to the British Ministry of Defence. This figure, the highest since the beginning of the year, brings the number of crossings since January to more than 17,000. At least 166 people have died or gone missing attempting the crossing, including 27 in a single day at the end of 2021.

According to Times, Home Secretary Priti Patel is set for the third consecutive year to pay millions of pounds to France as part of a deal to tackle these crossings, at the heart of recurring tensions between the French governments and British. In the fall of 2021, Priti Patel had, according to the British press, threatened not to pay the more than 60 million euros promised, for lack of results on the French side, to the great astonishment of his French counterpart Gérald Darmanin.

Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, the British government concluded an agreement with Rwanda to send asylum seekers who arrived illegally on British soil to this East African country. Although none of these deportations have yet taken place, a first flight planned for June was canceled after a decision by the European Court of Human Rights, the candidates to succeed Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, both promised to continue this highly controversial policy.