European Union leaders have called for new legislation to ‘speed up returns’ of asylum seekers from the 27-nation bloc.

A baby has died after a boat carrying asylum seekers towards the United Kingdom sank in the English Channel off the coast of France, the authorities said.

The local coastguard in France said on Friday the incident took place on Thursday night off the French town of Wissant. The French maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said 65 people were rescued and taken to the port at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Authorities said searches are ongoing to find any more missing people. An investigation has been launched by the public prosecutor’s office in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The latest sinking raises the death toll of migrants attempting to cross the Channel this year to at least 52 – the highest since 2018. In September, six children and six adults were killed, while a two-year-old boy and three adults died after overloaded boats ran into difficulties during the journey a month later.

The number of migrants arriving in boats to the UK averaged 53 this year as opposed to 13 in 2020, according to government figures.

More than 26,000 migrants have landed on UK shores since January 1, UK Home Office data shows.

‘Speed up returns’

The French and UK governments have sought to stop the flow of asylum seekers and migrants, who may pay smugglers thousands of euros for passage to the UK from France on small boats.

France’s new right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier said earlier this month that the country needs a stricter immigration policy. He promised to be “ruthless” with people traffickers, who he said “exploit misery and despair” that push undocumented asylum seekers to risk trying to cross the Channel and the Mediterranean Sea.

Stopping the small boat arrivals on the UK’s southern coast was a key issue in its general election in July. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to deal with the influx of small boats crossing from France after scrapping the former Conservative government’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

On Thursday, European Union leaders called for urgent new legislation to “facilitate, increase and speed up returns” from the 27-nation bloc.

After a summit in Brussels, the leaders called for “determined action at all levels” and urged the European Commission to propose new legislation to support this effort.

The statement suggested that “new ways to prevent and counter irregular migration should be considered”, likely referring to controversial proposals for establishing return centres outside the EU. This follows Italy’s opening of two centres in Albania this week, where migrants will be sent while their asylum applications are processed.