40 migrants cram into dinghy as 327 illegals arrive in single day hours after drowning tragedy
It comes as the Government faced its first defeat on the Rwanda bill from the unelected House of Lords
FORTY migrants cram perilously into a rubber dinghy — one of eight Channel crossings bringing as many as 327 illegal arrivals in a single day.
Young men, many without life-jackets, straddled the side of the inflatables as they made the journey from France in choppy waters yesterday, the same day that a seven-year-old girl died attempting the crossing.
At least another 200 headed to Britain today despite the tragedy 24 hours before.
It comes as Rishi Sunak’s bid to solve the small boats crisis suffered a fresh blow earlier today when the House of Lords inflicted its first defeat on the Rwanda plan.
The unelected chamber voted 274-172 to back an amendment to ensure UK immigration policy complies with “domestic and international law”.
They will keep watering down the Bill this week before sending it back to MPs who are expected to strip out all of their changes.
Rebel ringleader Lord Anderson conceded they would lose the “arm-wrestle with the Commons” eventually.
Yet Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby insisted the Government must observe international law.
He pointed out that the “legally elected” Nazis did “terrible things”.
He said: “Now we’re not in any situation remotely like that . . . the Government is not doing anything on the scale of what we saw at that stage.
“But the Government is challenging the right of international law to constrain our actions.
“And the point of international law is to stop governments going ahead with things that are wrong.”
The Rwanda Bill seeks to remedy last year’s Supreme Court ruling by declaring the east African nation a “safe” country in law.
Ministers are hopeful of getting the first flights in the air in the next few weeks.
Critics have blasted PM Mr Sunak for attempting to ignore senior judges, but today former Tory leader Lord Howard hit back: “Parliament is fully entitled to put things right that it thinks the court has got wrong.”
Meanwhile, Home Secretary James Cleverly agreed a new “customs partnership” with France to tackle the supply of small boat parts.
At a meeting of the Calais Group immigration task force in Brussels, he hailed a plan to share information “more effectively” to disrupt shipments of small boat materials.
The group, which included his counterparts from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, agreed to step up pressure on social media bosses to stamp out smuggling gang networks.
He said last night: “Working closely with our European neighbours is fundamental to solving the illegal migration crisis.
“Global problems require global solutions, and the UK is leading the conversation around the changes needed to crack down on people smugglers and break their supply chains.”
