Starmer urged to deal with 'national emergency' after baby death in Channel - HOW MANY MORE WILL DIE BEFORE WE STOP BOATS?

MORE migrants will die trying to cross the Channel unless ministers treat the crisis as a "national emergency", the Government was warned last night.

- MICHAEL KNOWLES

It came after a baby became the 53rd fatality this year when a boat sank on Thursday night, plunging those crammed on board into the water.

Ideology

Both Sir Keir Starmer and the French President Emmanuel Macron faced fresh fury yesterday over the growing death toll, with analysis revealing more migrants have perished this year than in the last three combined.

Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership contender and former immigration minister, said: "We've seen more deaths this year than ever before. Keir Starmer is condemning people to death for his own ideology.

"Rather than strengthening the Rwanda scheme to deter people from making the journey in the first place, he scrapped it all because he didn't come up with the idea. Now European countries are looking to do the same thing.

"It's a national emergency and he's playing politics with it." Former Home Secretary James Cleverly added: "The death of a baby in the Channel serves as another stark reminder that small boat crossings are extremely dangerous and the evil people-smuggling gangs must be stopped.