Rwanda bill latest news: Rishi Sunak says tragic Channel migrant deaths ‘underscores need for deterrent’ as child among is five dead when boat capsized near French beach

MailOnline reporter Chris Matthews reports asylum seekers sent to Rwanda under Rishi Sunak’s flagship scheme will stay in a hotel with a football pitch and bedrooms with prayer rugs if deportation flights take off.

Migrants who are sent to the African nation will be staying in a £19-a-night tourist hotel Hope Hostel, a hostel in Nyabugogo, the Gasabo district of Kigali.

Guests will have to get past metal detetctors and bag-scanners in airport-style security to enter the hotel where asylum seekers are expected to stay for around three months while their claims are being processed.

Senior figures from the United Nations and the Council of Europe have condemned Rishi Sunak’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after Parliament passed legislation to give the scheme the green light.

Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, called on Mr Sunak to reconsider the plan, which he said sets a “worrying global precedent”.

Mr Grandi said the arrangement with Rwanda seeks to shift responsibility for refugee protection, undermining international co-operation, and that the legislation marks a breach of the Refugee Convention.

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said it “seriously hinders the rule of law in the UK and sets a perilous precedent globally”.

The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, which aims to deter migrants from seeking to cross the English Channel, passed in the early hours of Tuesday after disagreements resulted in a lengthy “ping-pong” between the two Houses.

Five people including a girl believed to be four years old have died attempting to cross the Channel to Britain from France in the early hours this morning.

The tragedy occurred just hours after MPs passed a new law to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in a move designed to stop boats from making the crossings

As of 1pm here’s what you need to know

• French officials say several people on a boat carrying 112 people fell into the water just a few hundred metres from the coast after an engine fault. Six people were immediately recovered from the water and taken to Wimereux beach where three men, a woman and a child died despite resuscitation attempts.
• A French mayor has said Britain faces questions in the wake of the deaths as easy access to benefits, and work opportunities meant thousands of migrants were attracted to the UK.
• Migrants have been pictured arriving at Dover this morning as hundreds have attempted crossings today because of calm weather conditions.
• Rishi Sunak said the tragedy “underscores” the need for a deterrent as he said the deaths were a “reminder” that action was needed to stop the boats following the passing of a Bill in Parliament after midnight
• Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has promised Labour will replace the Rwanda scheme with an alternative plan to target criminal gangs and boost Britain’s border security.

French maritime authorities said ten boats were observed near Calais this morning as hundreds of migrants attempted to cross the Channel to Britain.

Calm seas saw many make the perilous journey between France and England before tragedy struck when one boat carrying 112 people capsized.

Five people were declared dead after being recovered from the water but 57 people in the same boat continued the crossing after telling authorities they did not want to be rescued.

Jacques Billant, a representative of the Pas-de-Calais region, told reporters:

Despite this complex and delicate situation, 57 people were still in the inflatable, they remained on board, not wishing to be rescued, they managed to restart the engine and continued their sea route, towards Grande- Brittany, under surveillance by the navy.

A French official has confirmed 112 people were on boat which overloaded and capsized in the Channel causing five of them to die earlier today.

Jacques Billant, the prefect or representative of the Pas-de-Calais, told a press conference the boat’s engine stopped a few hundred metres from the coast and several people fell into the sea.

Six people were immediately taken from the water to the beach at Wimereux where five of them, one of whom is understood to be a four-year-old girl, died after unsuccessful resuscitation attempts.

Mr Billant said 57 people remained on the inflatable and continued their route after restarting the engine while others were supported by rescuers and taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

A furious French mayor has today declared Britain needed to answer questions following the deaths of five people including a young child in the Channel.

Jean-Luc Dubaele (pictured), the mayor of Wimereux, where a major resuce operation was launched at around 5am, said easy access to benefits, and a chance to work in the UK’s black economy, attracted thousands from around the world.

Five dead in January, five dead in April. What are we waiting for? ‘Why do the English welcome them? Why do they absolutely want to travel to England? These are the questions that need to be asked.

Following a similar tragedy in Wimereux back in January, Mr Dubaele, who has previously described Britain as an “immigrant El Dorado”, said:

At the political level, we will have to change the situation, and bang our fist on the table with the English. Migrants today want to go to England because they are well received there, they can work there without problem.

Mr Sunak was asked about the threat of senior civil servants from the FDA union launching a legal review against the Rwanda scheme on the grounds officials do not want to enact legislation.

But the Prime Minister insisted Whitehall mandarins will be expected to follow ministerial guidance in relation to the plan.

Speaking to journalists, he said:

First thing is I have the privilege of working with fantastic civil servants every day in No 10 as I did in the Treasury and I’m grateful for all the support they have always provided to me, and I’m clearly and firmly of the view that civil servants know that what they’re there to do is support the Government, the elected government of the day, and that’s what I’m confident they will do in this instance.

That’s why we specifically changed the Civil Service Code, which is one of the steps that we made a little while ago, to make it crystal clear that when it comes to rule 39 decisions, as you know, the Bill gives ministers the discretion to decide what to do about those.

I wouldn’t have put that power in there if I wasn’t prepared to use it, but our changes to the code make it crystal clear that civil servants will be expected to follow ministerial guidance on that point when we get there or if we get there.

Rishi Sunak has said the tragedy in the Channel “underscores” the need for the deterrent effect of the Rwanda plan.

The Prime Minister told reporters on the plane to Poland:

There are reports of sadly yet more tragic deaths in the Channel this morning. I think that is just a reminder of why our plan is so important because there’s a certain element of compassion about everything that we’re doing.

We want to prevent people making these very dangerous crossings. If you look at what’s happening, criminal gangs are exploiting vulnerable people. They are packing more and more people into these unseaworthy dinghies.

We’ve seen an enormous increase in the numbers per boat over the past few years. This is what tragically happens when they push people out to sea and that’s why, for matters of compassion more than anything else, we must actually break this business model and end this unfairness of people coming to our country illegally.

I just want to pay tribute to our Border Force and the French who have cooperated as they always do to rescue people.”

But as I said it underscores why you need a deterrent very simply. People need to know that if they try and come here illegally they won’t be able to stay, they’ll be returned either to their own country or Rwanda. And I’m pleased that the Bill has passed through Parliament in the face of lots of Labour opposition, it was a late night.

New pictures have emerged of a group of people believed to be migrants arriving at the Port of Dover accompanied by Border Force officials.

Hundreds of people were reported to have attempted to cross the Channel on Tuesday just hours after MPs approved new laws to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has promised Labour will replace the Rwanda scheme with an alternative plan to target criminal gangs and boost Britain’s border security.

Branding the scheme an “extortionately expensive gimmick”, Ms Cooper said the Government’s new law was not addressing the overall problem of small boats crossing the Channel.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said:

This is not a serious plan to actually tackle the problem. It’s costing around half a billion pounds for just 300 people to be sent to Rwanda, that’s less than 1% of asylum seekers. It’s not addressing the 99%, it’s not addressing the overall problem.

That’s why Labour would replace the Rwanda scheme with a new plan to boost our border security, to go after the criminal gangs and their networks right across Europe.

Not just on the French coast, so that we prevent boats from reaching the French coast in the first place.

We’d also have stronger powers, stronger intelligence agreements, and new fast-track systems in the UK, so that we have a new returns and enforcement unit.

• MPs finally passed Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill in the early hours of this months after months of wrangling over the new legislation.
• Peers in the House of Lords had this week been engaged in a tussle over the new law – called the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill – on Monday in which they sent it back to the Commons five times in an attempt to secure amendments.
• But after midnight the challenge had relented which paved the way for it to become law. Mr Sunak is hopeful that flights can take off in July with the first asylum seekers expected to be detained within the next few days.
• Some £290 million has already been committed to the Rwanda scheme, with a further £100 million earmarked over the next two years.
• Speaking today, Mr Sunak said: ““The passing of this landmark legislation is not just a step forward but a fundamental change in the global equation on migration.”

Wimereux is a coastal town around three miles north of Bolougne in the Hauts-de-France, the northernmost region in France.

Here is the latest rundown of what you need to know this morning:

• The French coastguard has confirmed five people, three men, one woman and a child understood to be a four-year-old girl, have died attempting to cross the English Channel.
• A major rescue operation was launched off Wimereux, close to Boulogne-sur-Mer, at around 5am this morning when a “crowd movement” occurred in an overloaded boat carrying more than 110 people.
• The tragedy comes just hours after MPs approved a new law to send asylum seekers to Rwanda with Rishi Sunak vowing flights will take off in July.
• Home Secretary James Cleverly has reacted saying ” I will not accept a status quo which costs so many lives.”

A devastated father watched his young daughter drown in front of him, a refugee charity has said today.

Dany Patoux, of the Bolougne-based Osmose 62, said many witnessed the deaths of five people attempting to cross the Channel earlier this morning.

The French coastgaurd confirmed three men, a woman and a child, believed to be a four-year-old girl, had died.

We knew the little girl well. We have photos with her, with a big smile on her face, in the hope of a better life.

But now, everything is ruined. Her father fell into our arms right away. He was crying, in a daze. He saw his little daughter die before his eyes.

James Cleverly spoke earlier after the deaths were first reported by French newspaper La Voix du Nord.

These tragedies have to stop. I will not accept a status quo which costs so many lives.

This Government is doing everything we can to end this trade, stop the boats and ultimately break the business model of the evil people smuggling gangs, so they no longer put lives at risk.

The French Coastguard has confirmed five people have died attempting to cross the channel.

Around 5am this morning, a small boat (with more than 10 people) set sail; from German beach (Wimereux).

After an initial stranding on a sandbank, the boat set out to sea again. A crowd movement apparently occurred in the overloaded boat, causing several victims.

French media say the child was a four-year-old girl

We will bring you live coverage today following the deaths of five people attempting to cross the Channel from France to Britain.

The latest tragedy comes just hours after Parliament passed new legislation to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda with Rishi Sunak hopeful flights can take off in July.