Channel migrants reaching Britain under Labour top 69,000 as 1,000 arrive in just one week
The number of small boat migrants to have reached Britain since Labour came to power has topped 69,000 after nearly 1,000 arrived in less than a week.
Home Office figures showed 272 migrants came across the Channel yesterday.
It meant 984 reached British soil over six days.
The latest arrivals also pushed the tally under Labour, since the general election in July 2024, to 69,155.
It comes after the head of the UK's Border Security Command quit after failing to stem the surge in crossings.
Martin Hewitt will leave the post of border security commander in a few days’ time after 18 months in the job, it was confirmed last week.
Sir Keir Starmer appointed former senior police officer Mr Hewitt shortly after becoming Prime Minister, tasking him with curbing the number of small boats crossing the Channel.
Migrants wade into the sea at Gravelines beach in northern France on Sunday to board a smugglers' dinghy to Britain
But last year saw second-highest annual total of people crossing the Channel, with 41,472 arrivals.
Labour’s ‘one in, one out’ deal with the French has also failed to have an impact on the Channel crisis.
According to latest figures, only 377 migrants have been sent back to France under the agreement but 380 have come into Britain under the reciprocal terms of the deal.
A migrant gestures and smiles while waiting to board an inflatable boat on Gravelines beach on Sunday
The ‘one in, one out’ scheme is due to expire in June.
Sir Keir scrapped the previous government’s Rwanda asylum scheme – which was designed to save lives in the Channel by deterring crossings – as one of his first acts in office.
The Government has also ruled out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights which is used by migrants and foreign criminals to avoid being deported.
Meanwhile, the Home Office is still negotiating a new deal with Emmanuel Macron’s government on British funding for beach patrols to prevent crossings from the French beaches.
The existing agreement will expire on Tuesday.
The UK wants the replacement deal to contain a performance-related factor which will see funds paid only when French border patrol officers manage to block a set proportion of people traffickers’ boats.
Previous assessments have indicated nine out of 10 dinghies must be stopped in order to disrupt the smugglers’ illegal enterprises.
The British taxpayer has already given £658million in security payments to France since 2018, a report by the House of Commons Library set out last year.
A further £114million was handed over in the previous four years for other measures, such as Calais port security or addressing issues with migrant camps.
It made a total of more than £770million over 12 years, according to the research.
In 2023 it emerged some of the UK’s money had been used to buy equipment for French police operating on the French-Italian border – and not the Channel coast.
It was also revealed that most of the funds had been spent on helicopters, cars, motorbikes, e-scooters and quad bikes, plus surveillance equipment such as binoculars, drones and dash cams.
British taxpayers’ cash was also used to buy equipment such as charging devices, microwaves and car vacuums, and to support a horse brigade in the Somme Bay.
