Keir Starmer nightmare as small boats migrants arriving in UK tops 30,000 under his watch

More than 30,000 asylum seekers have crossed the English Channel and arrived in the UK since Sir Keir Starmer took the keys to Number 10, new analysis has revealed. Prior to taking office and since becoming the Prime Minister, the Labour leader has promised to "smash the people-smuggling gangs" that have facilitated the crossing of 150,000 people since 2018.

However, on Friday, 154 people arrived on four boats, taking the total number of arrivals since July 5 - when Labour won the General Election - to 30,034. Since the start of 2025, 6,792 have made the perilous journey successfully, according to MailOnline analysis. That figure's higher than any other year on record for the period from January 1 to April 4.

By April 4 2020, the number of people who had made it to the UK by small boat was 465; by the same time a year later the figure was 1,134; by 2022 that figure had soared to 4,548 before coming down to 3,770 in 2023; swelling to 4,644 in 2024.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the outlet: "These shocking figures show this Labour government has lost control of our borders. When Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda plan before it started, he gave up the only deterrent this country had.

"Crossings are up 31% since the election and 2025 so far has been the worst year ever as a result. Starmer's claim to 'smash the gangs' lies in tatters."

Embattled Home Secretary Yvette Cooper blamed temperate weather on the spiralling Channel crossing figures.

She told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: "March had much higher levels and the really unacceptable situation that we're in is because of the way the criminal gangs have taken hold, our border security ends up being dependent on the weather and we cannot continue like this, where the number of calm days affects the number of crossings and affects our border security as well.

"We've seen higher numbers in March, lower numbers in January and February, and that's reflected in the number of calm days. We cannot carry on with border security being so dependent on the number of calm days that happen in the Channel."

A Home Office spokesperson told the Mail: "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. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

"That's why this government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats."