Britain has “lost control” of its borders over the last five years, the defence secretary told Sky News after the highest number of migrants this year crossed the Channel.
John Healey told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the previous Conservative government left the UK’s asylum system “in chaos” and the country with “record levels of immigration”, which his government is having to deal with.
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On Saturday, 1,194 migrants arrived in the UK on 18 small boats, government figures showed – the highest number of arrivals in a day so far this year (the previous record was 825 on a day in May).
It brings the provisional total for 2025 so far to 14,811 – the highest ever recorded for the first five months in a year and the highest total for the first six months of the year, which was previously 13,489 on 30 June last year.
2025’s total so far is 42% higher than the same point last year (10,448), and 95% up from the same point in 2023 (7,610).
The highest daily total since data began in 2018 remains at 1,305 on 3 September 2022.
On Saturday, French police watched on while people, including children, boarded small boats in the shallows of a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk.
Authorities were then pictured escorting the boats as they sailed off towards the UK.
Mr Healey said: “Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday.
“Truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.”
He said it is a “really big problem” that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.
Migrants waited for the boats to come to the beach before wading in to the shallows to board. Pic: PA
French police watched on as migrants boarded the boats in the water at Gravelines. Pic: PA
“We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up,” Mr Healey added.
He said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene.
“They’re not doing it, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we’ve got the level of cooperation needed,” Mr Healey said.
“We’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.”
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Migrants waited on the beach at Gravelines before boarding boats to the UK. Pic: PA
‘Smashing the gangs’ not as easy as slogan suggests
The problem for Sir Keir Starmer – as it was for Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson – is that smashing the gangs and stopping the boats is not nearly as straightforward as the snappy slogans suggest.
Labour came into power promising to rip up the previous government’s deterrent-based approach and immediately scrapped the controversial Rwanda policy – which cost £700m and only saw four volunteers ever deported.
Instead the PM’s approach has focused on putting resources into law enforcement, giving them greater powers to tackle the smugglers – and crucially, trying to take a more collaborative approach with France.
In February, this seemed to have borne fruit, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announcing the French authorities had agreed to change the law to allow police to intercept migrant boats after they have entered the water.
The people smugglers’ tactics are designed to take advantage of these rules – with boats operating like sea taxis rather than launching from beaches where the gendarmes would have the authority to take action.
But clearly there’s mounting frustration that this change has not yet happened.
It’s unusual to hear Labour hitting out at the French authorities, but John Healey’s description of yesterday’s scenes as “shocking” – and the police’s inability to intervene as a “really big problem” – was far from diplomatic.
But as the number of migrant arrivals continue to rise – and the images of packed boats continue to dominate our screens – disillusioned voters will write this off as another broken promise from their political leaders.
On Saturday, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having “completely lost control of our borders”.
The Home Office released figures on Thursday that revealed France is intercepting fewer Channel migrants than ever before, despite signing a £480m deal with the UK to stop the crossings.
People waded through the shallows to get on small boats. Pic: PA
French authorities escorted the boats after they left the beach. Pic: PA
This year, French police have prevented just over 38% (8,347) of asylum seekers from reaching the UK in small boats, with 13,167 having made the journey successfully.
They stopped an estimated 45% last year and 47% in 2023.
