Small boats Cooper says UK 'making progress' on backlog

Small boat crossings would be "thousands higher" under the Conservatives, the home secretary said yesterday, though they remain 20% higher than this time last year.

- Jessica Elgot

But Yvette Cooper declined to say when people could expect to see the number reduce, saying only that the government was making progress on bringing down the asylum backlog, accusing the previous government of having "crashed" the system.

In an interview with the BBC, Cooper hinted again that the UK was interested in examining third-country processing for migrants who had arrived in the UK illegally from safe countries.

She said the government would have been on track for the highest number of migrant crossings this year had the same approach continued, but that the number was lower than in 2022.

The number of people who have arrived to Britain on small boats so far this year stands at 34,880, up 20% on this time last year but down 22% on 2022.

Cooper yesterday announced the formation of a joint unit in the Foreign Office and Home Office to monitor migration and returns agreements.