Tory ridiculed as his assault over small boats backfires spectacularly

The Tory Shadow Home Secretary has been ridiculed after scoring a spectacular own goal in an attack over small boats.

Chris Philp blasted the new Government following a rise in Channel crossings – only to be told that comparative increases were far higher when his party was in power. In a letter to Mr Philp, Labour’s border security minister Dame Angela Eagle also suggested he had “no understanding whatsoever” of weather patterns.

The Shadow Home Secretary last week told MPs that the number of people making the deadly journey rose 64% between July and December compared to the 150 days prior to the election. But Dame Angela pointed out that the comparable increase in 2023 was 70%, while in 2022 it was 171% and in 2021 a massive 217%.

It comes after Mr Philp branded this year’s rise “staggering” as he blasted the Government in the Commons. But the attack backfired as Home Office data shows this year has seen the lowest such percentage increase since 2018.

In a bruising response to Mr Philp, Dame Angela said “only someone with no understanding whatsoever of weather patterns in our country” would try compare figures from the winter and spring with the summer and autumn.

She wrote: “I hope you will not fall into the same trap as your predecessor, James Cleverly, who infamously claimed victory in the fight against small boat crossings after an extended period with very few arrivals around Christmas in 2023, only to then preside over the worst ever start to a year in the first six months of 2024.”

Dame Angela said that Mr Cleverly’s ill-fated “victory lap” led to Nigel Farage branding him a “moron”. In her letter to Mr Philp she wrote: “While I would not dream of using that kind of disrespectful language to describe either you or your predecessor, I do believe it is important for all politicians when discussing this issue to show some basic understanding of the role that the changing of the seasons…”

Latest figures show that between February 6 and July 4 – the day before the election – there were 12,239 small boat arrivals. This rose to 20,110 from July 5 to December 1, up 64%

But the previous year there were 10,035 between the dates in February and July, and 17,020 from July 5 to December 1 – a 70% increase. In 2022 the equivalent rise was 11,561 to 31,274, up by 171%.

And it was even worse in 2021, going up from 6,370 in the 150 days to July 4, and 20,162 in the same period after. Dame Angela wrote that the Government is “absolutely determined” to tackle the small boats crisis.

She told Mr Philp: “We would certainly welcome your constructive engagement on that front, rather than just a series of ‘savage attacks’ that fall apart under the first bit of scrutiny.”