Channel crossing migrants should face prosecution if child dies – Home Secretary

Everyone who arrives in the UK on a small boat where a child has died should face prosecution, the Home Secretary has said.
Yvette Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it was “totally appalling” that children were being “crushed to death on these overcrowded boats, and yet the boat still continues to the UK”.
She added: “Everybody who is arriving on a boat where a child’s life has been lost, frankly, should be facing prosecution, either in the UK or in France.”
The Government has already included a new offence of “endangering life at sea” in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently making its way through Parliament.
At risk
Ms Cooper has previously said this would allow the authorities to act against people “involved in behaviour that puts others at risk of serious injury or death, such as physical aggression, intimidation, or rejecting rescue attempts”.
But on Friday, she appeared to go further by suggesting even getting on an overcrowded boat could result in prosecution.
She said: “If you’ve got a boat where we’ve seen all of those people all climb on board that boat, they are putting everybody else’s lives at risk.”
Crossings have increased in the past year, reaching 20,600 by July 2, a rise of 52% compared with the same period in 2024.
‘More dangerous’
Some 15 children died trying to cross the Channel last year, prompting charity Project Play to warn that conditions were becoming “more dangerous” for young people.
Advocacy co-ordinator Kate O’Neill, based in northern France, blamed policies aimed at preventing crossings for the increasing risk.
She told the PA news agency: “Ultimately the children we’re meeting every day are not safe.
“They’re exposed to a level of violence, whether it’s they are directly victims of it or the witness.
“We’re ultimately at all times putting out fires… the underlying issue is these policies of border securitisation… that are creating more and more barriers to child safety and child protection.”
She said there was hope when the Labour Government took office a year ago that there would be some improvement, adding: “This is not at all what we’ve seen.
“They continued to make conditions more difficult and more dangerous.”
Narrative
She said: “The smash-the-gangs narrative is not effective and it’s harmful because ultimately the only way to put the gangs out of business is to cut the need for them.”
Meanwhile, Ms O’Neill said French police were already intervening in crossing attempts in shallow waters despite the changes to the rules to allow this having not yet come into force.
She said: “This is not a new tactic… it’s something that has been happening for a long time in Calais and surrounding areas.
“My feeling is that this is increasing based on the number of testimonies we’re receiving from children and their families recently.
“It’s really dangerous because the children often are in the middle of the boats.”
On Friday, the Home Secretary welcomed reports that French police were intervening in French waters to prevent crossings, and said she had been “working very closely with the French interior minister” to ensure the rules were changed “as swiftly a possible”.
Ms Cooper also declined to confirm reports the UK was looking at a “one in, one out” policy that would see people who had crossed the Channel returned to Europe in exchange for asylum seekers with connections to Britain.
Asked about the policy, she would only tell Sky News that ministers were “looking at a range of different issues” and “different ways of doing returns”.
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This law already applies. If you take any person into danger, especially a child, onto a small boat you can be prosecuted for gross negligent manslaughter. Even for leading some paddle boarders on the Cleddau. 10years in jail, as a recent case demonstrates. Applies regardless of nationality. Am surprised Yvette Cooper the Home Secretary, is not already aware of this.
I suspect she already knows this, she’s just making noise in a vain attempt to out-Reform Reform.
I agree with Brychan. With respect to the problem the only way to stop it is to make it clear that crossing illegally will lead to no further consideration of your case and immediate deportation. Otherwise it works like a wick – the more that cross the more that are drawn in. The advocate is wrong about blocking crossings causing the problems. The French authorities need to keep these people away from the coast and restrict their legal area. The camps should be shut down. That is a matter for the French interior ministry. It is about governance in France.… Read more »
What bit is illegal if they claim asylum.
What emergency. I only see the usual suspects losing their lunch over it.
We don’t need documents.
Pity about brexit, when we had better control.
You can’t have an asylum policy that requires claimants to reach the UK before they can lodge their claim then make it illegal to reach the UK.
Double down Yvette Cooper, Home Sec. Husband Ed Balls…
Blinkered beyond redemption, every 500 GP bomb dropped on Gaza on beach cafes rather than risk landing with live munitions on board count for nothing against an overcrowded boat…
The one sided hypocrisy is sickening, Clark should have recused himself on day one of this War…
Historians are going to tear this Government to bits in the not too distant future as war criminals, I hope there is a Trial, the like that has not been seen on UK soil since Charles1…
Does the home secretary have a heart?