Tackling a deadly trade

Six children and a pregnant woman were among 12 migrants who have died after an overcrowded boat carrying them across the English Channel capsized, French authorities said.

The boat was carrying more than 70 migrants and the maritime prefecture for the area said the boat ran into difficulty off Gris-Nez point on Tuesday morning. Two people remain missing, while 65 were rescued.

Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first-aid post was set up to treat victims, said: “Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open.”

At least 31 people have died crossing the Channel in 2024, with today’s disaster raising the death toll by a dozen.

At least 2,109 migrants have tried to cross the English Channel on small boats in the past seven days, according to UK Home Office data, which was updated on Tuesday. The figures include people found in the Channel or on arrival.

Tony Smith, former head of the UK’s Border Force and now a border security consultant, recently told The National migrants will continue to die in greater numbers in overcrowded boats in the English Channel as people smugglers make up for a lack of vessels.

He said success in reducing the supply of boats has resulted in the traffickers cramming ever more numbers of people on board flimsy vessels.

Mr Smith said that gangs of “Albanians and Kurds are all fighting one and other for the spaces and when one does get afloat they’re overloading them, which is why you’re seeing 70 or 80 on board and that’s very, very dangerous”.

“I think there’s going to be more deaths and I think it’s only going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.

Weapons to Israel

The British government is facing a growing backlash from pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups after its decision to impose a partial ban on the sale of weapons to Israel.

With just 30 of 350 export licences revoked, there was a growing chorus of dissent in Labour ranks and beyond over the small scale of the ban, particularly given that the advanced F-35 fighter jet is exempted. The symbolic nature of the ban was a major bone of contention after the announcement.

Zarah Sultana, a Labour MP who has had the whip suspended, called the embargo just a “small fraction” of the arms that Britain ships to Israel.

“This ban still allows the UK to keep 320 arms licences including selling parts for F-35 fighter jets, known as the most lethal in the world," Ms Sultana said. "The government needs to ban all arms sales.”

Personal crime

Have you visited London and suffered a crime? Or felt the need to leave possessions at home to avoid the attentions of so-called Rolex Rippers?

Officials have announced new intelligence units will support “surge police patrols” in theft hotspots, mainly in major cities.

About 78,000 people had possessions stolen without force being used or threatened in the year to March, compared to 31,000 incidents in the same period last year, according to data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she would tackle the problem on Tuesday. Operation Opal – the national police intelligence unit – will gather urgent information on the criminals who, for example, steal mobile phones, and where these devices end up.

By providing a stronger picture of the stolen mobile phone market and other attempts to profit from stolen goods, the authorities hope to identify what more needs to be done to tackle the problem.