Sunak says crackdown on small boats is going 'much better than expected' - despite crossings resuming

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Rishi Sunak said his crackdown on small boats had a "much better outcome" than expected - despite nearly 700 migrants arriving on Friday.

< p>The Prime Minister also said the government 'needed' to get migrants out of hotels - just hours after he appeared, the Home Office is spending more than half a million pounds a day booking hotels thousands of empty beds.

Speaking to reporters on his way to the NATO summit in Lithuania, Mr Sunak denied he was wrong to claim that his small boat policy is "starting to work last month.

Friday saw a record number of crossings for this year - seeing 686 people arrive in small boats across the Channel, the highest number in a day so far 'now in 2023.

However, the Prime Minister said he had always predicted the number of people coming to Britain would increase over the summer.

"The fact that they [the numbers] are down for five months of the year, the fact that they're still down, even if it's less than people expect expect, is a much better outcome than anyone expected,” he said.

Mr Sunak said his policy should be judged on trends when he took his duties. At this point, the numbers were increasing every year, he said. The prime minister said: "I think the plan is working...starting to work."

He added: "You can see that obviously with the Albanian deal we made. We have returned almost 2,000 illegal migrants to Albania and you have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of crossings. LAW. It shows me that deterrence works."

He said he didn't think a system where people died in the English Channel trying to get to Britain was a system that should "persist", adding: "It's not going to be easy, it's not going to happen overnight".

Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak under pressure to 'stop the boats'

(Simon Walker/No 10 Downing Street)

The Prime Minister added: 'We need to get people out of hotels, we need to save taxpayers billions. We need to reduce the backlog. But fundamentally, we need to do what is compassionate and right."

The Prime Minister is under enormous pressure from his own party to deliver on small boats. In January, he promised that he "s...