Ninety people enter UK on Christmas as Suella Braverman plans to tighten immigration rules

The figure comes after home secretary Suella Braverman announced plans to tighten UK immigration rules, including measures to increase the minimum financial requirement for British citizens to apply for a family visa.

Currently a couple must earn at least £18,600 and may need thousands more for any children they seek to bring to the UK.

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The Fareham MP, who told parliament in October that the scores of asylum seekers arriving on the UK’s south coast is an ‘invasion’, also aims to reduce the number of people legally coming to the UK.

According to The Times, Braverman’s proposal will make it harder to bring spouses to the UK and increase the minimum salaries for companies employing skilled workers. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick previously suggested further reform regarding student dependants is needed and expressed concern that people are coming to university as a ‘backdoor way of bringing their families into the UK’.

The Christmas Day crossings were the first recorded since Wednesday, December 21 and make the year’s provisional total of migrants making the journey 45,756.

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Prime minister Rishi Sunak has promised legislation in the new year to tackle illegal immigration, announcing plans for a ‘five-point strategy’ earlier this month. Mr Sunak told parliament: ‘If you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here.

‘Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.’