PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “losing control”; over illegal migration after more than 1,000 people crossed the Channel on small boats yesterday.
French police watched on as scores of dinghies, filled with desperate men, women, and children seeking refuge in Britain, , heading across the water.
With more than 1,000 making the dangerous journey, yesterday saw the highest daily number of migrant small boat crossings this year.
An estimated 18 boats made their way across the , helping surpass the previous record this year of 825 people making the crossing, which was set earlier this month.
Shadow home secretary has criticised the crossings as a “day of shame”; for , adding that maritime rescue services had been “overwhelmed”; by the number of small boats.
British and French rescue services had to deploy 11 vessels and two aircraft yesterday to assist those making the often dangerous journey across the Channel.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Philp said: “This is a day of shame for the Labour Government.
“Over 1,000 in a single day, boats flooding the Channel, Border Force stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed.
“A nation reduced to chaos on the high seas while hides behind platitudes and process.
“Labour has completely lost control of our borders.”;
Following yesterday’s crossings, a total of 14,600 people have now traversed the English Channel on small boats this year, seeking a new home in Britain.
That’s around 30 per cent higher than the same time last year, and is the highest total for boat crossings in the first five months of a year since they began in 2018.
It means 2025 could be on course to have the.
Many of these illegal crossings are orchestrated by criminal gangs, leading to overcrowded and unsafe boats.
Just this month, while trying to cross the Channel, while another.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is a UN agency, estimated at least 78 migrants died while making the crossing in 2024, making it the deadliest year on record.
And, since 2018, at least 225 migrants have lost their lives making the dangerous journey to the UK, according to the IOM.
The prime minister has and reduce the number of small boat crossings, but Philp said this promise was “in tatters”;.
He added: “They scrapped the Rwanda deterrent before it even began, and now the boats won’t stop coming.
“So far, this is already the worst year on record.
“Labour have failed on every front, and they should hang their heads in shame.”;
Last year, a total of 36,816 migrants illegally crossed the Channel in small boats, up from 29,437 in 2023.
However, the highest year on record remains 2022, where 45,755 people made the treacherous journey to Britain.
Speaking on the number of crossings yesterday, Defence Secretary John Healey criticised the previous Tory government for “losing control of the borders”;.
“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,”; Mr Healey told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News.
He added that it was “pretty shocking”; seeing smugglers coming round “like a taxi”; to pick people up and bring them to the UK while French police watched on.
The defence secretary explained it was a “really big problem”; that cops in France were unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.
However, he said the government was pressing for authorities in France to put in new rules so that they could reduce the number of boats making the dangerous journey.
Mr Healey explained: “They’re not doing it, but, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we’ve got the level of cooperation needed.
“We’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.”;
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said previously that gangs had beento try and make crossings.
In an interview on the BBC’s Sunday withshow, Ms Cooper said: “The really unacceptable situation we’re in is because of the way the criminal gangs have taken hold, our border security ends up being dependent on the weather.
“We cannot continue like this, where the number of calm days affects the number of crossings.”;
Ms Cooper insisted “only a coordinated international response”; across the whole migration route could effectively end the reign of the people smugglers.
She however admitted that the situation was unacceptable and could not continue.
