Refugees Call for 10,000 visas to reduce Channel death toll

The Home Office is facing calls to introduce 10,000 refugee visas in an effort to reduce the death toll from people crossing the Channel in small boats after a record number of lives were lost in 2024.

- Diane Taylor

The proposal aimed at stopping people from resorting to using smugglers is contained in a report published today by the Refugee Council charity titled Deaths in the Channel - What Needs to Change.

It says that unless a new approach is taken, there could be a further increase in deaths this year. It also calls for better documentation of deaths by French and UK authorities - including the age, gender and nationality of victims wherever possible - as well as improved search and rescue facilities along the coast of northern France.