Robert Jenrick: ‘I would end small boat crossings within weeks’

Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has claimed that if he were Prime Minister he could end small boat crossings “within weeks”.

Ahead of Saturday’s result, which will see either Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party, the Newark MP told BBC Radio Kent that he had resigned from the government “because I didn’t want to be another minister who promises about stopping the boats that I couldn’t keep”.

So far, 561 small boats are known to have made the journey across the Channel in 2024, carrying at least 29,867 migrants.

The Home Office said it would “stop at nothing” to dismantle people smuggling gangs and bring them to justice.