Fresh blow for Keir Starmer as 700 migrants cross the Channel in a single day
Some 11 boats were detected on Sunday, which suggests an average of around 63 people per boat.
A total of 703 migrants crossed the English Channel on Sunday – the highest number on a single day since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.
The Home Office said 11 boats were detected, with an average of 63 people per boat, taking the total for 2024 past 18,000.
It came as two people died in French waters trying to cross the Channel, with others on board the boat understood to have been rescued and taken back to France.
Officials said at least 18,342 people have arrived on small boats this year, heaping fresh pressure on Sir Keir to end the Channel migrant crisis.
Responding to today's small boat crossing numbers, Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "Since Labour have ditched our deterrent, more and more boats are crossing the Channel with more and more people in them.
"They've sent the wrong signal, throwing the doors open instead of doing what is necessary to stop the dangerous crossings.
"The Government's phantom border command clearly isn't working. They need to get a grip and fast, otherwise the numbers will continue to climb."
Andrew Allison, head of campaigns for Popular Conservatism, said: "This is the biggest arrival of illegal migrants across the English Channel since Labour took power just over a month ago. Despite promises from Labour to solve this problem, once again, nothing is being done.
"In our recent opinion panel survey, 86.1 percent of respondents said they want the Conservatives to commit to leaving the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] and repealing the Human Rights Act. Now is the time for action."
The total for this year is 13 percent higher than the total at the equivalent point last year, which was 16,170, but 3 percent lower than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 18,978.
The highest number of migrants to arrive on a single day so far this year was 882 on June 18, while the second highest was 711 on May 1. Both occurred before the General Election.
There were 29,437 arrivals across the whole of 2023, down 36 percent on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
Sir Keir’s government is prioritising bolstered co-operation with European countries to “smash” the smuggling gangs operating across the continent.
And in a sign of improving Anglo-French relations, Border Force Ranger picked up 13 migrants off the coast of Gravelines – inside French territorial waters – and took them to Calais on Wednesday as part of a joint rescue operation.
It was the first time a British vessel has taken migrants back to France.
It follows months of diplomacy between London and Paris, this newspaper understands.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak raised the plan – codenamed Operation Windspire - with French President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral call several months ago.
Under the proposal, British vessels could enter French waters and rescue migrants if they were in distress.
The plan was designed to minimise the threat of people dying in the Channel and the Home Office had also drawn up plans to rent a new rescue ship from Poland.
The agreement with France was conditional on confidentiality, the Daily Express can reveal.
Under Labour’s plans for a new Border Security Command, more British investigators and spies will be based in Europe.
Sources have told the Daily Express that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s team is hoping MI5 intelligence officers will treat people smugglers like foreign spies and terrorists.
This could mean smugglers' phones are bugged and their movements traced, this newspaper understands.
Ms Cooper has ordered the review into how the gangs operate because she believes there are more opportunities to disrupt the them.
Intelligence has been gathered on how the gangs operate, where they are based, the routes they take and how they communicate with migrants hoping to cross the Channel.
And utilising this information could give MI5 and the National Crime Agency more opportunities to infiltrate or disrupt the gangs before they reach the French coast.
Counter-terror powers will also be extended to cover organised immigration crime, including the power to search people suspected of being involved in people smuggling, close bank accounts, restrict their travel and trace their movements before an offence has taken place.
But many critics argue that Sir Keir's decision to scrap the Rwanda deportation scheme has removed the only deterrent to crossing the Channel.
Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, said: "The Labour Party have come into government and poured petrol on this crisis. Without the Rwanda scheme, there is nothing to deter those looking to make a Channel crossing.
"The payoff for making it onto British soil is huge. We now are a soft touch without the backbone to deport large numbers of those who entered our country illegally. Instead, we provide them with free accommodation, healthcare and pocket money.
"It is an insult to the British taxpayer that this crisis has gone on for so long and only looks set to worsen. There is real disillusionment with politicians who have repeatedly promised us a solution to this crisis and delivered absolutely nothing.
"Starmer needs to recognise his strategy to 'smash the gangs' is the wrong one. He must make it perfectly clear to those thinking of breaking into our country that we will have a zero-tolerance approach and that they will be removed."
