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More than
50,000 people have crossed Channel in small boats since Labour took power
Number of
people who arrived in UK via small boats in first half of 2025 up 48% on same
period last year
Rajeev
Syal Home affairs editor
Tue 12
Aug 2025 17.54 BST
More than
50,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since Keir Starmer became
prime minister, official figures have confirmed.
Home
Office data released on Tuesday showed that 50,271 people, most of whom
successfully claimed asylum, have arrived in the UK from France since Labour
won the general election in July 2024. A total of 474 people arrived on Monday.
The
milestone comes as the issue of irregular migration, and where to house asylum
seekers while their claims are being processed, continues to haunt the
government.
Starmer
came into power 13 months ago careful to avoid repeating the last government’s
promise to “stop the boats”. However, the prime minister has promised to “smash
the gangs” behind Channel crossings.
But
figures show that despite a number of initiatives from the Home Office in
conjunction with other European governments, the number of people who arrived
in the UK via small boats in the first half of this year was 48% higher than in
the same period last year.
Rishi
Sunak, the last Conservative prime minister, took 603 days in office to pass
the 50,000 milestone, while it took Boris Johnson 1,066 days during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
The
government is increasing its efforts to bring down migration, announcing on
Friday that the new “one in, one out” returns deal with France was up and
running.
The Home
Office has also expanded its “deport now, appeal later” scheme, under which
foreign criminals have been deported before their appeals have been heard.
Reports
claiming that the 50,000 figure would be reached on Tuesday were
“unacceptable”, a government minister said, shortly before the figures were
released officially.
Lady
Jacqui Smith of Malvern, a former home secretary under Gordon Brown, said it
showed how embedded criminal gangs had become under the previous Conservative
government.
Official
figures from Monday suggested 49,797 people had crossed in small boats from
northern France.
She told
BBC Breakfast: “It is an unacceptable number of people. It sort of demonstrates
the way over the last six or seven years that the criminal gangs have got an
absolute foothold in the tragic trafficking of people across the Channel.”
Kemi
Badenoch claimed she would reduce the number of boat arrivals to zero “quickly”
by reigniting the £700m Rwanda deportation scheme and opening detention centres
for asylum seekers.
Addressing
journalists on the Isle of Wight, the Conservative leader said: “My team are
now looking at what we can do in terms of detention centres, but [also]
stopping people from coming here in the first place: if they think they’re
going to be sent to Rwanda and not get here, get a free hotel, get benefits,
then they won’t come here.”
Asylum
seekers are not allowed to work until their claims have been considered.
Because of an asylum backlog, many have lived in taxpayer-funded hotels for
more than a year.
French
authorities confirmed a woman died on Monday while trying to board a boat to
make the crossing to the UK.
The
woman, believed to have been in her 30s, died on Malo beach in Dunkirk,
according to the Utopia 56 organisation, which supports displaced migrants at
the French border.
The
incident happened at about 4am on Monday , according to local media. French
authorities said she died despite resuscitation efforts from emergency services
at the scene on the French coast.
The Home
Office said it was aware of the incident but would not be commenting further.
According
to the International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, at least 20
people have died this year attempting to cross the Channel.
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