Migrant crisis: Footage shows boat attempting to cross Channel | UK News

Footage captured by Sky News shows a boat carrying migrants as it attempts to cross the Channel to reach the UK.

The film shows a flimsy blue dinghy, packed with tens of people, floundering as it makes its way across the choppy sea.

It comes after five people were found dead on Sunday after migrants attempted to cross from northern France on a boat.

That boat was spotted in difficulty off a beach in the coastal village of Wimereux, according to French maritime authorities.

The five were recovered from the sea or found washed up along the beach.

It also comes as MPs enter a second day of debate on the government’s controversial Rwanda bill.

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At the end of last year, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to deport asylum seekers who had made the dangerous crossing to the African nation was unlawful.

But Mr Sunak has tried to revive the plan with additional measures – such as signing a treaty with Rwanda over its treatment of those sent there and defining it as a “safe country” – insisting it is a necessary deterrent to “stop the boats”.

Opposition parties are widely opposed to the bill, with Labour calling it a “gimmick” and accusing the government of wasting money on the scheme that has yet to see one person be sent to Rwanda.

However, it has also led to splits in the Conservative Party, with right wing factions demanding Mr Sunak toughen up the legislation to limit appeals further and to disapply international human rights law in order to see flights get off the ground.

Number 10 has yet to concede, and as a result, the rebel backbenchers have being putting forward amendments to the legislation and defying the government in the voting lobbies.

More amendments are being debate on Wednesday, and further votes will take place tonight, with more rebellions from the government’s own benches expected.

Since the beginning of the year, seven boats containing 263 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats from France – not including the vessel spotted by Sky News on Wednesday.