Number of migrants reaching UK in small boats in a single day hits a 2025 high
UK government figures on Sunday showed that more than 1,100 migrants arrived in the country on Saturday in small boats from France across the English Channel, the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year.
The latest Home Office figures show that 1,194 migrants arrived in 18 boats on Saturday, bringing the provisional annual total so far to 14,811.
That is 42 per cent higher than the same point last year, an increase that has piled pressure on the Labour government, which returned to power nearly a year ago partly on disillusionment with the previous Conservative administration's efforts to get a grip on the numbers making the crossing.
Having ditched the Conservative government's plan to send migrants who arrived in the UK by unauthorised means to
Rwanda , Prime Minister
Keir Starmer said his government would get control by smashing the gangs and the business models that sustain their smuggling operations.
Since gaining power, Starmer's government has sought better intelligence-sharing internationally, enhanced enforcement operations in northern
France and has adopted tougher rules in its immigration legislation.
French police officers were seen watching on Saturday as migrants boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats. French authorities said they rescued 184 people.
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