DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The PM's migrant plan is definitely NOT working...as 781 illegal Channel arrivals land here in a single day
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It is eight weeks since Andy Burnham, speaking about Labour’s approach to the Channel small-boats crisis, maintained that ‘the plan is working’.
Yet if there was precious little to back up his claims then, evidence is even thinner on the ground now. More than 1,000 illegal migrants have landed on our shores in the space of three days. On Wednesday alone, there were 781 arrivals - the highest number in a single day this year - in ten boats.
The cost to British taxpayers continues to be eye-watering. With Home Office figures showing that each asylum claim costs £18,700, Wednesday’s arrivals alone will add £14.6million to the bill.
But that’s just for starters. A previous Daily Mail investigation found that the 1,097 migrants who arrived during Shabana Mahmood’s first day as Home Secretary in September 2025 would cost us at least £44million in the first year alone.
It is also deeply concerning that there have been undetected boat arrivals on consecutive days. For Cabinet minister Lucy Powell to blithely remark that the authorities ‘can’t stop everything all of the time’ simply isn’t good enough.
It is time Andy Burnham stopped insulting everyone’s intelligence by pretending that his so-called plan on migrant boats is working. A far more honest approach would be to admit that there isn’t really any plan at all
Her flippant response ignores early indications that the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme - snuffed out at the first available opportunity by Sir Keir Starmer - was deterring Channel crossings. With no coherent alternative in place, little wonder that the never-ending flotilla is still coming our way.
It is time Mr Burnham stopped insulting everyone’s intelligence by pretending that his so-called plan is working. A far more honest approach would be to admit that there isn’t really any plan at all.
Doing that would be an important first step in getting to grips with this crisis. For a second step, the Prime Minister should think about swallowing his pride and accepting that the Rwanda scheme offers the solution Britain so desperately needs.
Poll position pain
For everyone who truly cares about Britain, the results of the latest YouGov poll are a sobering read.
The figures suggest that the next Downing Street administration could be a hellish coalition involving Labour, the Lib Dems, the Green Party and the SNP. Support for Reform UK has fallen, but a rise in numbers for the Conservatives offers a glimmer of hope.
With a general election in the coming months looking increasingly likely, it is time for the Right-leaning parties to belatedly embrace a spirit of pragmatism. These findings should be the impetus for them to get their act together, stop sniping at each other and agree on a joint strategy.
Hardworking Britons deserve no less. For the Tories and Reform to leave a clear path for perhaps the most Left-wing government in British history ought to be unthinkable. It would certainly be unforgivable.
A budgeting tip...
With less than five weeks to go until the Budget, John Healey appears increasingly desperate to perform conjuring acts with the nation’s finances.
He has been warned about the threat of market chaos if he allows Britain’s fiscal headroom to shrink. Should he let the buffer drop below the £24billion mark, experts say it could result in higher borrowing costs and mortgage repayments.
Presumably Mr Healey doesn’t need a lesson in basic arithmetic. Just in case, though, he should remember that the simplest way of balancing the books is by spending less money.
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