LONDON: A record 28,076 migrants have crossed the Channel to Britain in small boats this year, a 46 per cent rise on the same period in 2024, government data showed on Monday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his handling of immigration.
The sharp increase comes amid mounting public concern over immigration, which is polling as the public’s top concern, with anti-migrant protests continuing outside hotels housing asylum seekers.
The record was reached on Sunday after 212 migrants arrived in four different boats that day, the data showed. The Home Office, or interior ministry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Demonstrations took place across Britain over the weekend following a court ruling last week that ordered the removal of asylum seekers from a hotel in Epping, north-east of London, the latest flashpoint in the immigration debate.
Starmer’s Labour government has pledged to phase out hotel use by 2029 and to overhaul the asylum system. On Sunday it announced reforms to speed up asylum appeals and reduce a backlog of more than 100,000 cases. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the country’s interior minister, said the changes were aimed at restoring “control and order” to a system she described as “in complete chaos”.
