Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was in tatters on Thursday night after a new record was set for Channel crossings.
More than 25,000 migrants have now arrived in the UK in small boats this year, the earliest the milestone has been hit.
Nearly 900 migrants arrived in Dover from northern France on Wednesday, bringing the total for 2025 so far to 25,436, Home Office figures show.
The record figure, represents a rise of more than 50 per cent on 2024, prompted demands for Labour to declare a ‘national emergency’.
One of the Prime Minister’s first acts after winning power was to scrap the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme, which was designed to deter migrants from risking the dangerous journey.
A pilot for his ‘one in, one out’ migrant returns deal with France’s President Macron – signed last month – has not yet begun.
The scheme is expected to initially see just 50 Channel migrants a week swapped with asylum seekers already in France.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the Mail: ‘Starmer promised to smash the gangs, but all he’s smashing is illegal immigration records instead. It will only get worse.’
Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, added: ‘2025 is the worst year on record so far and the Labour Government are doing nothing to stop the crossings. This is now a national emergency.
‘Their 17 in one out deal with France will not even make a dent – it would take ten years for Yvette Cooper to deport the illegal immigrants that have arrived since the start of this year alone under her so-called deal which still hasn’t started.
‘The Conservative Party’s Deportation Bill would bring this circus to an end. We would detain illegal arrivals on the spot, deport them without delay. If the ECHR stands in our way, we will leave it.’
In 2024, the 25,000 mark was passed on September 22 and in 2023 it was even later, on October 2. The previous earliest it had been breached was in 2022
The first year in which at least 25,000 arrivals were recorded was 2022, when the milestone was passed on August 27, and the total went on to hit a record 45,774 by the end of December.
Predictions suggest this year’s total could hit 50,000.
The jump in arrivals this year has coincided with a rise in the number of migrants making the perilous journey in a single craft.
The average for 2025 is currently running at 59 people per boat, the highest on record, up from 53 in 2024 and 49 in 2023.
On some days this year the average has been as high as 75.
The Home Office has vowed to increase co-operation with France and the EU to tackle the criminal networks behind the crossings.
French officials have been handed £771million of British taxpayers’ money to step up patrols on beaches but continue to be criticised for their lax response.
Fresh proof came on Tuesday, when pictures emerged showing a group of gendarmes standing idly by as a group of migrants headed to a smuggler’s boat.
One officer even appeared to be taking a selfie moments after the flimsy craft set sail towards the English coast.
On Thursday, the National Crime Agency (NCA) announced it had worked with Bulgarian authorities to seize 25 small boats that were due to be used in the Channel.
But the Conservatives have long insisted the crossings will continue without an effective deterrent.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘By scrapping the Rwanda deterrent, Starmer might as well have put up a big neon welcome sign on the cliffs of Dover.
‘We will deport anyone who arrives here illegally.’
Migrants who cross the Channel and claim asylum are usually moved into taxpayer-funded hotels, which have been the centre of repeated protests.
These began at The Bell Hotel in Epping on July 13, after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl in the Essex town.
Local political leaders have urged the Home Office to make the site a ‘priority for urgent closure’, citing community tensions that have put a strain on policing.
Currently, 32,000 asylum seekers are housed in hotels at a cost of £3 billion per year.
Pressure to reduce the use of hotels has prompted Sir Keir to announce 445 new places for asylum seekers at RAF Wethersfield in Essex – despite previously pledging not to do so.
Wethersfield is one of just two Home Office mass accommodation sites – along with Napier barracks in Folkestone which was already the largest.
It is understood more adult migrants will be moved into the former military site, which has a usual capacity of 800 beds, on a short-term basis.
The new milestone for small boat crossing comes as separate figures showed the population of England and Wales is estimated to have grown by more than 700,000 people in the year to June – driven almost entirely by international migration.
There were an estimated 61.8million people in England and Wales in mid-2024, up 706,881 from 61.1million in mid-2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
It is the second-largest annual numerical rise in more than 75 years, with net international migration – the difference between people moving to the country and leaving – accounting for 98 per cent of the total, the ONS said.
Commenting on the issue of small boat crossings, a Home Office spokesman 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.’
