Rishi Sunak has said the crackdown on small boats crossing the Channel is needed as the current system that is being exploited is “unfair on the British people”.

The prime minister described the new Illegal Migration Bill as “tough, but it is necessary and it is fair”.

“This will always be a compassionate and generous country… but the current situation is neither moral nor sustainable, it cannot go on. It is completely unfair on the British people.”

Referencing the toughness of the bill, Mr Sunak said “we have tried it every other way, and it hasn’t worked”.

Responding to a question by Sky News about where predecessors went wrong and why this policy is different, Mr Sunak said: “This is not about dwelling on the past because the situation has just got far worse.

“In the last two years the numbers of people crossing the Channel illegally has more than quadrupled. That is the scale of what is happening.

“It’s not just us, this is happening across Europe… that’s because globally this is a challenge.”

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When pressed on what success would look like, the prime minister said it is “us stopping the boats” and “having a system where people coming here illegally are returned”.

“And if we can get that working… we will see the numbers come down,” he said.

It comes after the home secretary unveiled the new Illegal Migration Bill that will mean people arriving on small boats in the UK will be “removed swiftly”.

Campaigners have said there is nothing “fair, humane or even practical” in the plans, which the government has admitted might not be compatible with European human rights laws.

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Under the proposed plan:

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