The migrant crisis is an unfolding humanitarian tragedy that requires workable solutions

As years go by, the question won’t be what more could the Government have done more and rather why didn’t it tailor its approach to the crisis leaders were met with.

The most recent headline figure is that more than 300 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on Sunday.

But what cannot be overlooked is the human cost in the wake of often desperate people climbing onto small boats that are clearly unfit for crossing the Channel.

The death of the seven-year-old girl, who drowned while trying to make the journey, should make ministers pause for thought and reflect on how they can tackle this crisis in a meaningful way.

The majority of people who want to see small boat crossings stopped, do so because they understand that these journeys are putting the lives of innocent people at risk.

All the Government has tried to do is turn this into a wedge issue. Instead of working with European partners and showing genuine leadership to set up joint initiatives that tackle cross-Channel people smuggling, it proposes unworkable and expensive schemes that will see hundreds of millions handed over to Rwanda.

The child who died had been travelling with her pregnant mother, her father and three siblings in a boat carrying 16 people when she died after it capsized. This is a reminder of the desperate situation many of these migrants find themselves in.