Public has every right to be angry about small boats crossings PM says

The public has “every right to be angry” about small boats crossing the English Channel, Sir Keir Starmer said after more than a thousand migrants made the journey in a single day for the first time this year.

The Prime Minister suggested he was “angry too”, after Home Office data showed 1,195 migrants arrived in 19 boats on Saturday.

But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described Sir Keir’s words as “rubbish”, claiming that even Defence Secretary John Healey had acknowledged ministers had “lost control” of the borders.

Saturday’s figures were the first time daily crossings topped a thousand in 2025, and prompted Mr Healey to claim Britain had “lost control” over the last five years, implicating the former Tory government.

Writing on social media site X on Monday, the Prime Minister said: “You have every right to be angry about small boat crossings.

“I’m angry too.

“We are ramping up our efforts to smash the people smuggling gangs at source.”

He claimed hundreds of boats and engines had been “seized”, raids on illegal working were up, and “almost 30,000 people” had been returned.

But Mrs Badenoch hit back, responding: “Rubbish! Even the Defence Secretary admits the govt has ‘lost control’ of our borders.”

Small boat arrivals are “up 95% from this point in 2023”, she said, and claimed ministers had “scrapped the only viable deterrent”: the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda plan.

Sir Keir had earlier insisted the Rwanda plan “didn’t deter anybody”, after his decision to scrap it was highlighted while he visited Glasgow for a major defence announcement.

He added: “I’m not up for gimmicks. I’m up for the hard work of working with partners, enhancing the powers that law enforcement have, in my determination to take down the gangs that are running this vile trade.”

The Prime Minister also signalled to journalists he had a duty to stop Channel crossings.

He said: “In relation to border security, I want to be really clear: nobody should be making that journey across the Channel and it’s our duty to make sure that we ensure that they don’t.

“We are working very closely with our counterparts in France and elsewhere to take further action in northern France, and of course, we are giving enhanced powers to our own law enforcement through the Borders Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs on Monday that criminal gangs will “likely” have made millions of pounds from crossings this weekend alone, and that further discussions with the French interior minister are under way this week on stronger action.

Saturday’s crossings brought the provisional annual total so far of migrants who have made the journey to 14,812.

This is 42% higher than the same point last year (10,448) and 95% up from the same point in 2023 (7,610), according to PA news agency analysis of the data.

It is still lower than the highest daily total of 1,305 arrivals since data began in 2018, which was recorded on September 3 2022.

On Sunday, Mr Healey said the scenes of migrants being picked up by smugglers “like a taxi” to be brought to the UK were “shocking”.

Britain has “lost control of its borders over the last five years”, he added.

The Defence Secretary said it is a “really big problem” that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.

French police officers were seen watching as migrants, including children, boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats.

Some 184 people were rescued, the French authorities said.

The UK agreed a £480 million deal with France to beef up its efforts to stop migrants in 2023 under former prime minister Rishi Sunak.

It was the latest in a series of agreements with France since 2014 aimed at cracking down on crossings.

This year is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with the 14,812 total arrivals so far the highest recorded for the first five months of a year.

It has also surpassed the highest total recorded for the first six months of the year, which was previously 13,489 on June 30 last year.

In 2024, the number of arrivals did not reach more than 14,000 until July 9 (14,058).

Sir Keir’s Government has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind people-smuggling operations to bring down crossings.

Published: 02/06/2025 by Radio NewsHubClick here to read this story in full at Radio News Hub