Small boat crossings under Labour to surge past 50k as migrants arrive every 11 mins despite Starmer's clampdown claim
The damning milestone comes as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch calls for asylum seekers to be put in 'camps' rather than costly homes and hotels.
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Home Office stats show 49,797 have crossed the Channel since July 5 2024 when Sir Keir Starmer took charge with a promise to get a grip on our borders.
That could surge past 50,000 as soon as today after more boatloads were picked up in the shipping lane yesterday.
Dozens of illegal migrants - who mainly appeared to be young men - were seen disembarking Border Force cutters at Dover yesterday.
The 50,000 arrivals is the equivalent of a population the size of Durham, with the majority in taxpayer-funded accommodation.
Downing Street yesterday denied its flagship plan to ' smash the gangs ' had flopped.
The PM's spokesman said: 'There's clearly much more to do. These gangs had a six-year head start to establish their networks.'
Anger at illegal migration is focused on expensive asylum hotels and private housing being used to put up Channel crossers.
On a visit to Epping - the epicentre of the recent protests - Ms Badenoch touted 'camps' to hold illegal migrants rather than community hotels.
She warned locals 'don't feel safe' following the charging of an asylum seeker for the sexual assault of a young girl.
The Tory leader said: 'We've got to turn things around very quickly. We cannot use rules from 1995, or 2005, or even 2015 for 2025.
'Our world is changing very quickly, and we need to adapt to it.'
She added: 'Is it possible for us to set up camps and police that, rather than bringing all of this hassle into communities?
'We need to make sure that communities like Epping are safe. What a lot of the parents — the mothers and even some of the children — have said to me is that they don't feel safe.
'It is unfair to impose this burden on communities.'
Reform UK 's only female MP yesterday claimed small boat migrants from Muslim countries are a threat to women's safety in Britain.
Sarah Pochin warned the vast majority of these migrants are 'young, military-aged males' and accused many of holding 'a medieval view of women's rights'.
Speaking at Reform HQ's headquarters in central London, she added: 'Women are at risk of sexual assault and rape from these men, hundreds of young men who arrive in this country, housed in our communities, who undoubtedly become sexually frustrated, have a warped view of their right to sexually assault women.'
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Reform would deport all small boats migrants living in houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs), who have been moved out of hotels.
The party would also deport foreign criminals and police would be made to respond to every 'inappropriate sexual behaviour' report made against a migrant.
Labour has vowed to save £1billion by the next election by ending the use of costly taxpayer-funded hotels.
MIGRANTS' ICE-SKATE DISCOUNTS
By Thomas Godfrey
ILLEGAL migrants are being offered discounts on ice skating in the latest small boat benefits farce.
Asylum seekers in Oxford can get cut-price entry to the city's leisure centres for £2.10, which includes access to an ice rink.
Ice skating tickets typically cost £11.10, so local taxpayers are stumping up a 79 per cent subsidy.
Around 250 asylum seekers are in the university city, with many housed in a three star Holiday Inn.
They have all been given access to Oxford city council's Bonus Card, which grants huge discounts on swimming, gym sessions and spin classes at five leisure centres.
It comes a day after we revealed boat migrants were getting cut-price dinghy days out and a host of other perks in towns and cities across the country.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'You could not make it up. Hard-working Brits are subsidising perks for illegal migrants, while at the same time seeing services cut. This has got to stop.'
An Oxford city council spokeswoman said: 'The Bonus Card provides a discounted leisure offer for people on qualifying benefits, such as carers and people with disabilities, as well as refugees and asylum seekers.'
Knifed 15 times in hotel row
However, using alternatives like private housing has seen reports of renters being booted out by landlords who have accepted government contracts.
Sir Keir's spokesman yesterday said the number of migrants in hotels has been reduced by 6,000 since December — although the figure is still higher than when Labour took over.
Migrants have started to be detained under the 'one in, one out' deal with France and the first will be returned in the coming weeks.
The Government has also vowed to get tougher on deportation of foreign criminals.
But yesterday a minister admitted a glaring legal loophole will still let foreign criminals waltz back into Britain.
Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones said Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights - the 'right to family life' - can still be used by offenders to return after being kicked out.
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KNIFED 15 TIMES IN HOTEL ROW
Exclusive by Thomas Godfrey and Tom Seaward
AN illegal immigrant stabbed a fellow asylum hotel resident 15 times in a frenzied attack.
Iranian Syed Barzegar, 33, went berserk after the victim banged on his door following a drawn-out row between the pair.
He charged at him in the corridor and repeatedly stabbed him, with seven blows to his back.
Footage showed the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stumbling around in a bloodied t-shirt, leaving red footprints on the floor at the Holiday Inn Express in Oxford.
He needed emergency surgery after the attack on January 30.
Barzegar, who claimed asylum in 2023, tried to conceal the weapon by handing it to a pal, Oxford crown court was told.
He was convicted of grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article last week and was jailed for three years yesterday.
Judge Maria Lamb KC said the victim ignited the situation but nothing can justify the attack.
Barzegar's initial asylum claim was rejected by the Home Office but he launched an appeal.
Ms Lamb added: 'Whether the deportation provisions apply is not a matter for me.'
A co-defendant, Behroz Danandeh, was cleared of conspiring to hide the knife.
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