Channel migrant crossings hit 2025 high as more than 1,000 arrive in one day

More than 1,000 migrants - the highest daily total in 2025 so far - on Saturday, forcing British and rescue services to deploy 11 vessels and two aircraft to deal with the surge. And the revelation has prompted Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp to claim: "Labour have failed on every front, and Britain is paying the price."

A minimum of 18 boats launched from the French coast carrying migrants set off on the perilous voyage, pushing the number of arrivals on Saturday above the previous 2025 record of 825 set which was earlier this month, reported the . The sharp rise meant more than 14,600 people have made the crossing so far this year - a rise of more than 30% compared with the same point in 2024, and the highest figure for the first five months of any year since small boat crossings began in 2018. The highest daily total on record is 1,305 people on September 3, 2022, in the last few days of Tory Boris Johnson's tenure as Prime Minister.

Mr Philp said: "Over a thousand illegal immigrants in a single day, boats flooding the Channel, Border Force stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed. A nation reduced to chaos on the high seas while hides behind platitudes and process.

"Labour has completely lost control of our borders. Their pledge to smash gangs in tatters. They scrapped the Rwanda deterrent before it even began and now the boats won't stop coming. So far, this is already the worst year on record.

'Labour have failed on every front, and Britain is paying the price. This is a day of shame for Labour."

In one case, Coastguard officers were forced to issue a radio appeal asking fishing boats to assist with a yacht and several kayaks in distress, as every available Border Force and RNLI vessel was already occupied with rescuing migrants from the 18 dinghies in the Channel.

Two patrol aircraft, four out of five Border Force boats, and seven French vessels - including Abeille Normandie, Ridens, Oyapock and a warship - were scrambled alongside two UK lifeboats as the crossings began early Saturday morning.

The dramatic scenes unfolded as French police looked on from beaches near Gravelines while groups of people, believed to be migrants, boarded boats and pushed off for England.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has blamed favourable weather conditions for the increase, pointing to the higher number of "red days" - periods of calm weather that make crossings more viable.

However, the figures suggest France has intercepted fewer than 40% of migrants attempting the crossing so far this year - the lowest rate since the first small boats began arriving, despite a £480 million funding agreement between Paris and London to help block departures.

Ministers believe the situation may improve in the coming months following legal reforms in both France and Germany. French authorities have changed the law to allow their police to stop small boats at sea using their own vessels, even in shallow waters - a key change that could increase intervention opportunities before boats reach UK waters.

They are also set to reinstate the offence of an "illegal stay", which would empower police to arrest migrants and smugglers before they attempt a crossing. Under current rules, launching a boat is the only criminal offence that triggers arrest.

Germany, where many of the boats used in the crossings are reportedly stored before being transported to the French coast, is also tightening its laws.

It is preparing legislation that would make it explicitly illegal to assist in people-smuggling to the UK.ses such activity if it relates to moving people within or into the EU.

Currently, German law only criminalises such activity if it relates to moving people within or into the EU.

A Home Office spokesperson 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 is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage - through intelligence-sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced operations in northern France, and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill."