Sir Keir Starmer has ‘lost control of Britain’s borders’ after almost 1,200 small boat migrants cross the Channel in single day

Almost 1,200 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day – as one of Sir Keir Starmer’s ministers said control of Britain’s borders had been lost.

The Prime Minister faced criticism over what was called a ‘day of shame’ as a surge in dinghy crossings overwhelmed French and UK border patrol vessels. 

The latest Home Office figures show that 1,194 migrants arrived in 18 boats, bringing the provisional annual total so far to 14,811.

This is 42 per cent higher than the 10,448 at the same point last year and 95 per cent up from the same point in 2023, 7,610, according to PA news agency analysis.

It is still lower than the highest daily total of 1,305 arrivals since data began in 2018, which was recorded on September 3, 2022.

At Gravelines in northern France, more than half a dozen French police officers simply stood by yesterday morning and watched as migrants waded into the sea and scrambled on to an inflatable boat.

And today one of Sir Keir’s senior cabinet ministers admitted the scenes were ‘pretty shocking’ as he said the UK had ‘lost control of its borders over the last five years’.

Defence Secretary John Healey this morning told Sky News that the latest crossings revealed a ‘really big problem’ – but insisted there was pressure being put on France for better co-operation and crackdowns ahead.

A group of people thought to be migrants are seen here aboard a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France, yesterday in an attempt to reach the UK by crossing the Channel

The latest figures have seen increased criticism for PM Sir Keir Starmer, seen here chairing a round table during the International Border Security Summit in London on March 31 this year

Britain had agreed a deal in 2023 to pay France £480million over three years to stop the crossings, including £175million in the current financial year – more than £480,000 per day. 

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded the latest Channel scenes ‘a disgrace but sadly entirely expected’ and ‘a day of shame for the Labour Government’. 

He added: ‘It’s a shameful failure by the French to discharge their duties to stop illegal migration. The French are failing to stop these crossings by illegal immigrants.’

Mr Philp said: ‘Over a thousand illegal immigrants 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.’

And Richard Tice MP, deputy leader of Reform UK, said: ‘It looks like we pay hundreds of millions to give French police officers photography lessons because they are certainly not providing any security. 

‘Frankly, the Government should be suing the French for our money back.’

At least 18 migrant boats were seen leaving the French coast yesterday, carrying more than 1,000 people – exceeding the previous daily record for 2025 of 825, set earlier last month. 

Mr Healey today told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News: ‘Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday.

Groups gathered in the early hours of yesterday morning to make the perilous journey across the Channel – with new estimates suggested almost 1,2000 attempted to reach the UK

Sir Keir Starmer’s Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain had ‘lost control’ of borders

‘The truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years.

‘The last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.

‘But I think that yesterday tells us a really big problem which is that you’ve got French police unable to intervene to intervene and intercept the boats when they are in shallow water.

‘We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming round like a taxi to pick them up.’

Mr Healey insisted there was ‘new co-operation’ with the French suggesting their officials would intervene in the water.

When asked whether he was ‘hacked off’ with France for not doing so now, Mr Healey said: ‘They are not doing it, but we’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work.

‘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.’ 

Reacting to the huge crossing numbers, the Conservatives’ former Home Secretary James Cleverly today said: ‘The arrogance of Starmer, Cooper and the rest.

Labour’s handling of migrant crossings has been criticised by James Cleverley (pictured)

A group of people including women and young children are seen waiting to try and catch a boat to the UK on Saturday at Gravelines in France

‘They thought border control would be easy for the oh-so-clever progressive Labour government. They thought they could achieve more by doing less. Their hubris is now plain to see.

‘I warned Yvette Cooper that scrapping the Rwanda agreement would send the wrong message to people smugglers. She ignored me.

‘I said the Border Security Command duplicated the work of the Small Boats Operation Command and therefore wasn’t adding value. She ignored me.

‘Scrapping so many elements of the Illegal Migration Act and fast-tracking asylum acceptances would attract more illegal migration.

‘She ignored me. And now we see the worst small boat arrival figures ever.’

And Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted on X, formerly Twitter: ‘As I warned earlier, huge numbers of young males have crossed the Channel today…. well over 1,000. Our country is in peril.’ 

British and French rescue services were yesterday forced to deploy 11 vessels and two aircraft.

And at one point the coastguard even issued an appeal for fishing boats to assist a yacht and kayaks in trouble because all lifeboats and Border Force vessels were too busy rescuing migrants.

The Conservatives’ Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described Saturday’s Channel scenes as ‘a disgrace but sadly entirely expected’

The remains of a small boat on the beach in Gravelines, France, following an unsuccessful attempt by people thought to be migrants to reach the UK

People hoping to reach the UK to claim asylum wade into the Channel to catch a dinghy piloted by several men

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Yesterday’s arrivals were the highest since September 29 2022, when 1,131 migrants arrived on 23 boats, according to Home Office figures.

The record number of arrivals is 1,305, set on September 3, 2022.

Two patrol aircraft, four of the five Border Force vessels and seven French vessels, including a warship and two lifeboats, were deployed yesterday morning as a string of inflatable dinghies carrying hundreds of migrants were launched from multiple beaches.

The skipper of the fishing vessel that was in the Channel for ten hours yesterday told the MoS: ‘The Border Force were completely overwhelmed and they’ve been using the RNLI lifeboats from Dungeness and Dover all day.

‘An English pleasure boat said it was taking on water and required assistance but by the time the coastguard finally had a lifeboat to spare, the boat had fixed the hole itself and was making its way back to the harbour.’

He said the French authorities used their vessels to escort inflatable boats packed with migrants into English waters.

A source even claimed a cross-Channel ferry had to alter its route to avoid two separate migrant boats, saying: ‘There really seems to be absolutely no deterrent.’

Since Labour took office in July last year, 36,859 people have been detected crossing the Channel on 667 small boats.

Six boats were seen crossing the Channel on Saturday morning, with many setting off in the early hours of the morning

A man carries a young child to a small boat off the coast of France in a bid to reach the UK by crossing the Channel

French police stood back and watched as entire families packed themselves into an overcrowded small boat heading across the Channel to the UK this morning

In a major speech in Germany last year, Sir Keir talked of a ‘new spirit of cooperation’ with Europe, saying: ‘We cannot smash the smuggling gangs who perpetrate this vile trade without the help of our partners.’

But it emerged last week that just 38 per cent of those trying to cross have been intercepted by French officials so far this year – down from 45 per cent last year and 46 per cent in 2023.

The UK’s £480million deal with is helping pay for a new detention centre in France, new surveillance drones, a joint Anglo-French command centre and the doubling of officers patrolling beaches from 400 to 800.

A Home Office spokesman insisted the UK was ‘strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders’.

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