Andy Burnham vows to be 'relentless' on small boats crisis - and aims a dig at his rivals

Andy Burnham vows to be 'relentless' on small boats crisis - and aims a dig at his rivals Andy Burnham pledged to get a grip on the numbers of people making the perilous Channel crossing - but said safe routes were needed to tackle vile smuggling gangs Andy Burnham has said he will be relentless in tackling small boat arrivals as he took a veiled swipe at his right-wing opponents for playing politics. The Prime Minister pledged to get a grip on the numbers of people making the perilous Channel crossing, but said safe routes were needed to tackle the business model used by vile smuggling gangs. On a visit to Dover, Mr Burnham pointed to a sharp fall in crossings, with the number of arrivals at this point in the year 43% lower than last year. The provisional total for this year is 14,526, compared to 25,436 last summer. The PM said: "Clearly, progress is being made, but we’re not complacent. We’re just going to be relentless. People want to see this issue addressed. I heard that on the doorsteps in Makerfield." He added: "But we also need to build a system that offers safe routes for people as well, because that also takes away the selling point of the gangs. So on every level we’ve got to cover this … crucially increasing the enforcement activity.” Reform and the Tories have both seized on the issue of small boat crossings, with Nigel Farage's regularly stoking fears about an "invasion" of migrants. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has spent the start of the summer recess filming videos about small boats - which turned farcical when he accused a French warship of firing 17 "live rounds" to intimidate him as he filmed an interview in the Channel. Asked if he wanted to change the tone of the debate, Mr Burnham said: “We have to deal with the issue rather than play politics with the issue. Just deal with it head on, grip it, and then make the changes that will bring that reassurance to the public. “The public don’t like the idea that the border looks like it’s not controlled. We need to bring back that control, but also we need to offer support for people who genuinely need it. “It’s about changing the whole approach, and slowly but surely we are putting in place those building blocks of a very different approach to this issue. It’s working, but there’s more to be done.” At least 13 people are believed to have died trying to cross the Channel so far this year - with four lives lost in 24 hours last week. One man died after a boat capsized off France's northern coast on Wednesday, and a one-year-old child was hurt. Three people were found dead onboard a boat that had launched from Dunkirk on the French coast. Mr Burnham visited Dover’s joint command room, where officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Border Security Command track movements across the Channel using surveillance drones. He was shown a small boat used by 96 migrants in May this year, along with a surveillance drone used to detect small boat activity. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood visited NCA headquarters in Stratford as the Government said the numbers of officers tackling organised immigration crime has more than doubled from 376 to almost 800. Ms Mahmood said the plans to tackle small boat crossing were starting to "bear fruit" but said she was determined to crack down on the factors pulling people to make the journey. She said: “I want to change the calculus. I want them to change their mind about whether they get on the boat in the first place.” Ms Mahmood has announced a string of measures to discourage people coming to the UK, including a controversial proposal to make refugee status temporary. It comes as the latest figures showed 326 people arrived on Saturday in four boats, bringing the number of people crossing the strait to 2,057 since Mr Burnham became PM on July 20. Wednesday was the busiest day for small boat crossings so far this year, with 752 migrants arriving in the UK. Numbers tend to fluctuate due to changes in the weather, with peaks in the summer months, according to the Home Office.