A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel (Image: PA)
Labour has “lost control” of Britain’s borders following the arrival of over 1,000 migrants so far this year, the Tories have said.
The milestone figure was reached a week ahead of last year, when the same number of migrants had crossed by 28 January.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This latest milestone shows Labour’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ has had absolutely no impact on bringing down the numbers crossing the Channel.
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“As the National Crime Agency said, an effective removals and deterrence agreement is needed to stop the boats, but Labour cancelled the Rwanda deterrent before it even started. That’s why small boat crossings are up 30 per cent since the election compared to the same time last year.
“Labour has lost control of our borders and are having to reopen asylum hotels as a result, breaking their manifesto commitment.”
Two boatloads of migrants made it into UK waters this morning when more than 120 people were taken to the Border Force migrant processing centre at Dover harbour, it has been reported.
Previous provisional figures showed 890 people had made the journey to the UK so far this year.
This ws 43% up from the same point last year when 621 people were recorded.
It takes the provisional number of migrants who have made the illegal crossing from France since the beginning of the year to around 1,013.
At least 36,816 people crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2024. And 78 migrants died trying to cross last year.
Labour had pledged to end the use of hotels in its manifesto.
Dame Angela had said Labour was making the asylum system “fit for purpose” after inheriting “an unholy mess” – where fewer than 1,000 cases a month were being processed.
“We are now processing up to 10,000 asylum cases a month,” she added.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said earlier this month that he was “absolutely determined” to stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats as the Government launched a new sanctions regime targeting people smuggling gangs.
Asked by broadcasters if the new scheme would make a difference, the Prime Minister said: “I’m absolutely determined that we are going to stop people crossing the channel in small boats. That is being run by gangs who are making a huge amount of money from the vile trade of people smuggling and getting them into those boats.
“I was chief prosecutor for five years, and one of the things that I learned then was, if you’re going to smash a gang that was driven by money, follow the money.
“That’s why, in addition to all the other work we’re doing here today, we’re introducing a sanctions regime which is very similar to the powers we’ve used against terrorists, which allows us to seize their assets, to stop them traveling, and to put them out of business.”
He added: “That is a really important step. It’s a world first. Nobody has done this before, and I’ve just spent the morning talking to our law enforcement about how we’ll work with colleagues to bring about this regime, put it in place and take yet another important step to smashing the gangs that are running this absolutely vile trade, and make sure we’ve got proper control of our borders.”
