More than 50,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since Labour came to power, despite Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs” behind them.
It is the quickest timeframe in which the milestone has been met under a prime minister – 403 days – and education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith admitted earlier on Tuesday that the number of people making the dangerous crossing was “unacceptable”.
Figures published on Tuesday showed the total number of migrants to arrive on small boats under Labour has now reached 50,271.
Labour has so far been unable to get a grip on the increase, despite ramping up its efforts to bring down migration, with a new “one in, one out” returns deal with France beginning last Friday, amid growing public anger over the issue.
Baroness Smith of Malvern blamed the previous Tory government, despite the number being reached in 603 days under former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
She said stopping the crossings was “a very big challenge” and admitted it was “a problem that, up to this point, we haven’t managed to tackle”.
She said: “It sort of demonstrates the way over the last six or seven years that the criminal gangs have got an absolute foothold in the tragic trafficking of people across the Channel”.
She continued: “I think it’s tough because the last government enabled this hideous criminal activity to really get its roots into Europe”.
The figures come after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch suggested that migrants housed in hotels should instead be put in “camps”. Referring to concerns about a hotel in Epping, Essex, she said: “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. Is it possible for us to set up camps and police that, rather than bringing all of this hassle into communities?”
Labour has been criticised for continuing to operate a “highly dangerous” former RAF base in Wethersfield to house asylum seekers. Self-harm and suicide attempts were among over 400 incidents recorded at the site last year.
Sir Keir has introduced a new scheme to detain small boat migrants when they arrive in the UK, with some due to be deported to France within weeks. In exchange, people will be able to apply to come to the UK from France, with those with family links expected to be prioritised.
Amid growing political pressure on the issue of migration, the government has made a number of announcements on illegal migration. These include announcing an extra £100m to boost the work of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and funding for interventions in transit countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The Home Office has also pledged to deport more foreign criminals before their appeals can be heard.
Dr Mihnea Cuibus, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said that small boat arrivals have been on an upward trend since last autumn. Around 46,000 people arrived by small boat over the last 12 months, which is approaching record levels last seen in 2022, he explained.
“If current trends continue, it’s likely that we will see a record number of arrivals during 2025,” Dr Cuibus said.
While no one factor can explain the increases, some broader trends are evident. “Smuggling gangs have become increasingly professionalised and efficient, which has allowed them to scale up operations and increase the availability of crossings. This includes the use of progressively larger and more crowded boats…In addition, the number of pending asylum applications has increased across Europe, which may have pushed some people further along towards the UK. This has become particularly relevant after Brexit, since the UK no longer has access to the EU’s asylum database, and is no longer able to return people to their EU country of first arrival,” he added.
Dr Cuibus explained that bringing people more people to justice though “smashing the gangs” might not necessarily disrupt the overall market. “Smuggling gangs are highly adaptable and decentralised, meaning that smugglers who are captured can be relatively easily replaced by others”.
