Almost 1,200 migrants crossed the Channel on small boats on Saturday (Image: Getty)
Small boat arrivals surged to a daily record for this year 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 dangerous Channel crossing on Saturday.
The arrivals mark the highest number recorded on a single day so far in 2025. The Cabinet minister said: "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."
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French police watched as migrants board a small boat (Image: Getty)
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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".
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Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "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.
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"Labour has completely lost control of our borders. Their absurd claim 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 needs to demand that the French intercept these boats at sea and return them to France - like the Belgians already do. And every single illegal immigrant that arrives in the UK should be immediately removed to a place outside Europe.
"Then the crossings would soon stop. It’s as simple as that. This madness must end.”
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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 illegal migrants crossed yesterday.
"That’s the highest daily figure this year. Where are all the women and children?"
This year is on course to set a record for Channel crossings with the latest arrivals bringing the annual total so far to 14,811, up 42% from the same point last year.
In 2024, the number of arrivals did not reach more than 14,000 until July 9.
The previous highest daily total for 2025 was 825 on May 21.
But Saturday's figure is less than the record 1,305 arrivals on September 3, 2022.
In scenes that have sparked widespread fury, French police officers were seen watching as migrants boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats.
French authorities said they stopped 184 people from making the crossing.
The Defence Secretary said it is a "really big problem" that French police are unable to intercept boats in shallow waters.
Mr Healey said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene.
He told 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 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."
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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.
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They said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
"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 government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage."