Why small boats are a big problem for Britain
A crisis in the Channel disturbs every part of the political spectrum
On Saturday October 29th, 990 people set off in 24 dinghies from continental Europe to make the short, dangerous voyage across the English Channel to beaches on Britain’s Kent coast. The day after, another 468 arrived, crammed onto eight boats. That same day a terrorist, who had gorged on far-right memes about the country being overrun by immigrants, threw a series of petrol bombs at a migrant-processing centre in Dover. In Parliament on the day after that, Suella Braverman, the home secretary, labelled the people arriving on British shores an “invasion”, triggering outrage from critics and support from backbench Conservative mps waving dictionary definitions of the term.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Why small boats are a big problem”
Britain November 5th 2022
- Britain faces a wave of industrial action this winter
- Why government ministers don’t stick to security rules
- Britain’s next recession may have already begun
- The Good Friday Agreement rests on the DUP’s ability to compromise
- The daunting task facing the new head of the Metropolitan Police
- Young Britons head to eastern Europe to train as doctors
- In Britain, immigrants are moving beyond the big cities
- Why small boats are a big problem for Britain
From the November 5th 2022 edition
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