(BBC) The Home Office failed to stop a rise in migrant boats crossing the English Channel before it was too late, an independent inspector has said.
Decisive action in late 2018 could have prevented crossings becoming “established,” David Bolt, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said.
By early 2020 it “appeared to be too late” to stop the rise, he said.
The Home Office said it was tackling the criminals behind the crossings.
In 2018, 297 people reached the UK in small boats, with 1,840 doing so in 2019.
Nearly 8,000 people have made the journey this year, according to BBC analysis.
