Channel deaths: Former asylum-seeker on 'hellish' journey to UK

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on Thursday to increase efforts to prevent migrants crossing the English channel after 17 men, seven women - one of whom was pregnant - and three children drowned after their boat sank near Calais.

Gulwali Passarlay was granted asylum in the UK after a "hellish" journey from Afghanistan at the age of 13. He said he found the loss of lives on Wednesday "heartbreaking" because he too had been in a boat that almost capsized, when he crossed the Aegean Sea.

He was critical of the government's Nationality and Borders Bill. The Home Office says it will "break the business model of the people smugglers" and "fix our broken asylum system".

But critics say it will criminalise those seeking asylum.