The shockingly low number will prompt renewed fears over the lack of a deterrent to people hoping to cross the English Channel. New Home Office analysis revealed just 1,174 small boat arrivals have been deported so far this year, compared to 2,377 in 2024.

Tory MP and former Home Office adviser Nick Timothy said in a stinging newspaper column: “Immigration is the biggest single reason my party is in the predicament it is in, and we must be brutally honest about our record and radical in our solutions if we are ever to win back the trust of the British people.

“Labour’s approach, however, is even worse. They abandoned the policy of deporting migrants who cross the Channel and are now rushing illegal immigrants through the asylum system.

“Approvals are up, and once asylum is granted, the migrants are hidden in the social housing and welfare systems, where it is impossible to track their costs.

“Ministers muddy the waters by claiming they are deporting record numbers of people. But this is dishonest. First, the numbers they use include migrants who leave voluntarily. And second, only about three per cent of Channel crossers are ever removed.

“It’s no surprise that Channel crossings are up – by almost 50 per cent – under Labour.”

It continues an alarming trend of a fall in deportations. Previous figures, published in May, revealed the number of Channel migrants deported has fallen under Labour.

In the year to March 2025, some 2,240 migrants were sent home, compared to 2,316 in the previous 12 months.

Analysis of the first three months of this year and the second last of last year also reveals the number of Channel migrants has fallen compared to the previous 12 months.

Under Labour, 1,611 migrants have been deported over the past 9 months, compared to 1,856 in the same 9 months in the previous year.

The Daily Express revealed there are growing fears within the Home Office that smuggling gangs are growing in strength.

Officials have warned that organised crime gangs pose a “critical” threat to the UK.

And they warned there is a “risk of continued growth” in the criminals forcing desperate migrants into flimsy boats destined for Britain.

A Home Office “threat matrix” revealed: “There is a risk of continued growth in the strength of OIC [organised immigration crime] gangs who facilitate arrivals to the UK via small boats”.

This is rated as “critical”.

Though the Home Office annual report stated the threat remained the same as last year, analysis shows officials have actually upgraded the risk.

In 2023/24, a similar threat identified: “There is a risk of serious harm, injury or death to one or more individuals as a result of people attempting to arrive in the UK by dangerous methods”.

This was rated as a high risk.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The Home Office now admits small boat crossings are a critical and growing threat, exactly what the public have been warning.

“Since taking power, 50,000 illegal migrants have poured across the Channel, whilst 2025 has been the worst in history for Channel crossings.

“And it is our communities paying the price in rising crime, with horrific cases of rape and sexual assault by recent arrivals.

“Even the Home Office is now admitting that they have lost control of our borders.

“Keir Starmer is dismantling Britain’s borders while the gangs grow stronger. Every week of inaction makes our country less safe, and every broken promise proves Labour simply cannot be trusted to defend Britain.”

Almost 28,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, putting Labour on a path to smash the record set in 2022.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced ridicule over the “scandalous” Channel migrant fiasco after the number of small boat arrivals under Labour surged past 50,000 in record time.

Around 400 people were detected in small boats last Monday, smashing the barrier in a record 401 days.

The number of small boat arrivals under Rishi Sunak passed 50,000 in over 600 days into his premiership.

Under Boris Johnson, it took 1,066 days.