Britain is on track for the worst year to date when it comes to migrant boat crossings as the Home Office lays blame on better weather for higher numbers.
Fresh government data shows a record high of 1,489 illegal migrants made the journey across the perilous Channel waters from the start of January to February 6.
This is up from 1,335, who made the journey from France last year as well as 1,442 who travelled to British shores in 2023.
The Home Office has blamed the increased number of migrants crossing the channel on a high number of good weather days, The Sun reported.
Labour has since come under fire as 23,000 migrants crossed in 2024 since their loveless landslide victory in the general election last July.
Critics have also pointed out that Labour previously promised to come down hard on smuggling gangs who profit from ferrying migrants across the dangerous Channel.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip blamed the increase on Sir Keir Starmer for ‘idiotically’ binning the Tories controversial Rwanda deportation plan.
Keir scrapped the Rwanda plan – which would have seen asylum seekers sent to the African country to have their claims processed – as soon as he took office
A group of people thought to be migrants brought into Dover on February 6 following a small boat incident on the Channel
An inflatable dinghy carrying around 65 migrants crosses the English Channel on March 6, 2024
Migrants wearing puffer jackets arrive at the Ibis hotel Luton in November 2024
Mr Philip told the publication: ‘Labour is introducing their Border Surrender Bill which gives illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. This is a weak Labour government led by a weak PM.’
Last month, Starmer vowed to ‘hit people smugglers where it hurts’ with tough new financial sanctions.
The Prime Minister revealed that new laws will allow human traffickers to be treated ‘like terrorists, cyber criminals and corrupt kleptocrats’.
A new regime of sanctions will allow ministers to freeze the bank accounts, property and other assets of trafficking gangsters, including those responsible for sending tens of thousands of small-boat migrants across the Channel.
Traffickers will be publicly named for the first time so that financial institutions and other companies know it is illegal to deal with them.
Describing the measures as a ‘world first’, Sir Keir said: ‘My pledge to Mail readers is this – we’re going to hit them where it hurts. Today we are announcing a new sanctions regime, the first of its kind anywhere in the world.
‘We’re going to treat people smugglers like terrorists, cyber criminals and corrupt kleptocrats. We’ll freeze their assets, ban their travel and work with allies to put them behind bars.’
He added: ‘My message to those criminals who still think they can breach our borders is this. There is nowhere to hide. We’re coming after you.’
Next week politicians will have the opportunity to vote on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s Borders Bill, which will hand immigration officers further powers to help bring people traffickers to justice.
Two dinghies carrying 190 migrants were spotted by Border Force vessels on January 25, 2025
Although current Channel crossing rates have hit a record for January, it does not suggest that this trend will carry on for the rest of 2025.
During this time period in 2022, 1,339 people had made the journey to British shores – and it later became the highest year on record for Channel crossing, totalling to 45,755 illegal migrants.
A Labour source told The Sun that the latest daily numbers of zero crossings on the Channel brought the rate down to below levels recorded in 2023.
They told The Sun: ‘Only yesterday, Chris Philp said it was “disgraceful” that 1,489 people had crossed the Channel by February 6 this year, and blamed it on the ‘idiotic’ decision to scrap the Rwanda scheme.
‘So what was his view of the situation on February 7th 2023, when he was a Home Office minister, when the Rwanda scheme was in place, and when 1,646 people had crossed the Channel – almost 10 per cent more than have arrived so far in 2025? Did he consider that a disgrace as well?’
MailOnline has approached the Home Office and Downing Street for comment.
