More than 10,000 migrants have arrived this year, heaping more pressure on the Government to end the small boats crisis. But new criticism is emerging.
Labour is planning to rent more houses for asylum seekers (Image: STEVE FINN PHOTOGRAPHY)
More than 10,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year as Keir Starmer was accused of opening the door to “extremists and criminals”.
As many as 450 asylum seekers are feared to have arrived on small boats on Monday, leaving the Prime Minister’s ‘smash the gangs’ pledge in tatters.
It comes after 247 arrived on five boats on Sunday, with smugglers exploiting calm conditions in the Channel.
Labour, amid mounting criticism over their strategy, battled to regain control of the narrative by announcing a raft of measures, including plans to ban foreign sex offenders from claiming asylum – paving the way for more deportations – and rushing through asylum appeals from migrants staying in taxpayer-funded accommodation.
But the Home Office also came under fire on Monday for planning to rent more houses for small boat arrivals, heaping even more pressure on Britain’s creaking housing market and taxpayers footing the bill.
The Channel migrant crisis has overwhelmed the asylum system (Image: Getty)
Asylum accommodation provider Serco wants more landlords, investors and agents with properties in the North-west, the Midlands and the East of England to lease for more than five years.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP said: “Britain’s borders are being torn apart under Labour. This year is already the worst on record for small boat crossings after over 10,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Britain, but Labour just sit on their hands.
“Labour scrapped our deterrent before it even started, flung open the door to extremists and criminals, and handed the bill to hardworking taxpayers.
“Under new Conservative leadership, we are serious about tackling this crisis with deliverable reforms, but Labour continue to block these at every turn. Labour’s open-door chaos is a betrayal of the British people, and we will not let them get away with it.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “We’ve just passed a milestone – 10,000 people have now crossed the English Channel so far this year.
“That is nearly 50% up on last year. And at the same time, Serco, one of the big providers of hotel spaces for these illegal immigrants, has now put this list out on social media saying ‘we want to rent your house, we will rent it for five years, we will pay you a premium rate’.
“If the hotels weren’t bad enough, let me promise you, with the tens of thousands that are going to come this year, one of those residences will be very close to you.
“It is wrong. It is unfair. It is totally out of control. And when Starmer said he was going to smash the gangs, he has failed completely and utterly.”
Putting an asylum seeker in a house, bedsit or flat costs as little as £14 a night, the National Audit Office said. This compares to £145 a night in a hotel room.
And immigration judges will be ordered to prioritise appeals from asylum seekers in taxpayer-funded hotels and accommodation, under new Home Office plans.
First-Tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chambers will be given 24 weeks to rule on cases, with the Home Office also set to use AI to summarise interview transcripts and provide key pieces of information on the migrant’s home country.
Ministers are concerned migrants can strengthen their claims, under human rights laws, due to the length of time it takes for their cases to be heard and deported if they lose.
Foreign sex offenders will also be barred from claiming asylum.
The Home Office will bar overseas nationals put on the sex offenders’ register after committing an offence in the UK from being granted refugee status.
Insiders believe their decision to include all sex offences in the legal changes could lead to immigration judges concluding that perverts sentenced to less than 12 months behind bars should be deported because they are not “conducive to the public good”.
The UK previously only treated an offence which led to a sentence of more than 12 months as a “particularly serious crime”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We are restoring order to a broken asylum system that has been mired in delay and dysfunction for far too long, and we are strengthening our system to make sure that the rules are respected and enforced.
“Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community should not be allowed to benefit from refugee protections in the UK. We are strengthening the law to ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously.
“Nor should asylum seekers be stuck in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense during lengthy legal battles. That is why we are changing the law to help clear the backlog, end the use of asylum hotels and save billions of pounds for the taxpayer.”
Pictures on Monday showed people wearing life jackets disembarking from a Border Force boat in Dover, Kent, amid sunny weather.
Confirmation of whether a cumulative total of 10,000 arrivals has been passed will come on Tuesday when the Home Office publishes details for Monday’s crossings.
It would be the earliest point in a calendar year that this milestone has been reached.
Last year the figure of 10,000 was not hit until May 24, while in 2023 it was June 17.
The current cumulative total for 2025, 9,885, is up 38% on the number recorded at this point last year (7,167) and 72% higher than the same point in 2023 (5,745), according to analysis of Home Office figures.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice have also revealed a five-fold increase in the number of asylum appeals waiting for a hearing.
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Keir Starmer’s Channel migrant plan is under intense scrutiny (Image: Getty)
There were some 41,987 asylum appeals caught up in the backlog at the end of last year, up from 7,173 at the start of 2023.
Migrants can only appeal from abroad if they have already been given the legal right to appeal, meaning they will likely remain in the UK whilst they begin legal proceedings.
They currently have 28 days to appeal once they have left the country.
And ministers are considering plans to allow failed asylum seekers to appeal from their home countries – in a bid to get them out of taxpayer funded hotels.
Foreign Office minister Baroness Chapman told the Daily Express: “Suppose you have made your claim, it has been denied.
“You then have the ability to appeal.
“At the moment we’d be putting you up in a hotel for who knows how long, because it takes that long because of the backlogs.
“The Home Office has done a good job, and it’s getting better, thank goodness.
“But the idea that you get to stay in a hotel while you exhaust every legal process there is, is, I don’t think, the right way to think about this.
“We need to consider the ability to make sure that those claims can take place outside of the UK.”
Baroness Chapman said the move would signal “we’re serious about dealing with these things” and “that you can’t expect to come here and stay for years, building a life, improving your chances of getting your claim agreed, indefinitely, at taxpayers’ expense.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That’s why this Government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.
“We have already secured agreement from the French to deploy a new elite unit of officers at the coast, launch a specialist intelligence unit, increase police numbers and introduce new powers for the French authorities to intervene in shallow waters.”
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