Tories blast that the public ‘clearly see Keir Starmer has lost control of our borders’
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer came under fire over the small boats crisis after damning new polling showed voters think he is failing on the issue. The YouGov survey found that 71% said the Prime Minister is handling migrant hotels badly – including 56% of Labour voters.
Almost four in 10 people said that immigration and asylum is the most important issue in the UK. Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The British public can clearly see Keir Starmer has lost control of our borders. We now have a full-blown immigration crisis thanks to Labour.
“They have caused the worst ever Channel crossing numbers this year, the highest asylum claims on record and more illegal immigrants in hotels than at the election.
“I believe we need to urgently repeal the Human Rights Act for all immigration matters and deport all illegal immigrants immediately upon arrival. Then the crossings will end. But Labour is too weak to do this, so their border crisis will continue.
“Only the Conservatives under new leadership and with a radical new approach have a proper plan to fix this.”
It comes as a record 28,076 people have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel in small boats so far this year, up 46% on the same period in 2024.
Meanwhile, official figures released earlier this month showed a total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
The number of asylum seekers in hotels also went up during Labour’s first year in power to 32,059 by the end of June.
Protests have erupted outside migrant hotels in recent weeks (Image: Getty)
Tensions have been rising with a series of protests erupting outside hotels housing asylum seekers in recent weeks.
Epping Forest District Council was successful last week in its legal bid to block migrants from being accommodated at an Essex hotel, which has been at the centre of regular demonstrations after an asylum seeker was charged with trying to kiss a 14-year-old girl, which he denies.
It prompted other town halls to pledge to follow Epping’s lead with similar action.
But the Government announced plans on Friday to appeal against the High Court’s refusal to allow it to intervene in the case.
The Prime Minister has pledged to “smash the gangs” in order to get a grip on the crisis.
The Government set out proposals over the weekend to speed up the asylum appeals system in a bid to make it easier to get migrants out of hotels and on planes out of the UK.
But the YouGov poll of 2,153 people carried out from August 20-21 found that nearly a third said that Nigel Farage‘s Reform UK is best-placed to tackle the small boats problem.
