Small boat arrivals surged to a each day file for this 12 months as a Labour minister admitted it was like a “taxi” service. Defence Secretary John Healey conceded that Britain had “lost control of its borders” after 1,194 migrants made the harmful Channel crossing on Saturday.
The arrivals mark the very best quantity recorded on a single day thus far in 2025. The Cabinet minister stated: “Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday. Truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.”
He added: “We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up.”
The Conservatives branded it as a “day of shame” for Labour and insisted Prime Minister Sir Keir’s Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs” was “in tatters”.
Shadow dwelling secretary Chris Philp stated: “So far 2025 has been the worst year in history for illegal immigrants crossing the channel, and this was the worst day of the worst year.
“Labour has utterly misplaced management of our borders. Their absurd declare to smash the gangs lies in tatters.
“It was a catastrophic mistake by our weak Prime Minister Starmer to cancel the Conservatives’ Rwanda removals deterrent just days before it was due to start.
“The Government now must demand that the French intercept these boats at sea and return them to France – just like the Belgians already do. And each single unlawful immigrant that arrives within the UK ought to be instantly eliminated to a spot exterior Europe.
“Then the crossings would soon stop. It’s as simple as that. This madness must end.”
Reform UK also hit out at Labour over the record day for Channel crossings so far this year.
Reform MP Lee Anderson insisted Britain must cut ties with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to get a grip on the issue.
He said: “Labour has done it again — promised one thing and delivered the opposite.
“Migrant crossings have hit yet another all-time high. Instead of tackling this crisis head-on, their priorities lie with an obsession over net zero, loyalty to the EU, and a desperate attempt to repair their broken reputation. Border security is not their concern.
“Enough is enough. Only Reform will treat this for what it is: an invasion. We will leave the ECHR, deport all foreign criminals, and put the British people first – above all else.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage posted a video on X of what appeared to be migrants in a dinghy marked with Saturday’s date.
He added: “Eighteen boats carrying 1,194 unlawful migrants crossed yesterday.
“That’s the highest daily figure this year. Where are all the women and children?”
This 12 months is on track to set a file for Channel crossings with the most recent arrivals bringing the annual complete thus far to 14,811, up 42% from the identical level final 12 months.
In 2024, the variety of arrivals didn’t attain greater than 14,000 till July 9.
The earlier highest each day complete for 2025 was 825 on May 21.
But Saturday’s determine is lower than the file 1,305 arrivals on September 3, 2022.
In scenes which have sparked widespread fury, French cops had been seen watching as migrants boarded at a seaside in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities had been then pictured escorting the boats.
French authorities stated they stopped 184 individuals from making the crossing.
The Defence Secretary stated it’s a “really big problem” that French police are unable to intercept boats in shallow waters.
Mr Healey stated the UK is urgent for the French to place new guidelines into operation to allow them to intervene.
He instructed Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News: “They’re not doing it, but, but for the first time for years … we’ve got the level of co-operation needed.
“We’ve acquired the settlement that they are going to change the best way they work, and our focus now’s to push them to get that into operation to allow them to intercept these smugglers and cease these individuals within the boats, not simply on the shore.”
Videos shared on social media platform TikTok showed migrants smiling and making hand gestures as they made the perilous journey on rubber dinghies.
The UK agreed to hand France £480 million under a three-year deal by Rishi Sunak to beef up its efforts to stop small boats.
It was the latest in a series of pacts with France since 2014 aimed at cracking down on crossings.
The Prime Minister, who scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda deportation plan on his first full day in office, has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind people smuggling to bring down crossings.
A Home Office spokesperson pointed to measures to share intelligence internationally, enhance enforcement operations in northern France and introduce tougher rules in its immigration legislation.
They said: “We all need to finish harmful small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border safety.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That is why this authorities has put collectively a critical plan to take down these networks at each stage.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2062839/labour-small-boat-channel-crossings