Small boat migrants break 1K barrier in just 1 day as Keir Starmer's plan unravels

Sir Keir Starmer has suffered a fresh blow as it was revealed that more than 1,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats on Friday. The latest Home Office figures showed 1,072 made the journey in 13 boats in just one day, taking the number of people who have made the crossing so far in 2025 to 32,103.

The figure is a record for this point in a year. It comes as the Government hopes to show voters that they have a handle on English Channel crossings having reached a "one in one out" agreement with France. The pact means people who arrive in the UK by small boat can be detained and returned across the Channel, in exchange for an equivalent number of people who applied through a safe and legal route. But it has been blasted by the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp as providing "no deterrent effect whatsoever", describing the numbers returned as "pathetic" and saying "boasting about it is absurd".

The first flights carrying asylum seekers from France to the UK under the deal are expected to take place next week.

The third person sent back to France was an Iranian man on Friday.

This followed the removal of an Eritrean man earlier that day after he lost a High Court bid to halt his removal, and the deportation of an Indian national on Thursday.

Starmer's deputy, David Lammy, claimed the agreement serves as an "immediate deterrent".

He said: "It has been very important to increase the numbers of people that we are returning to the countries from which they are from, and that's gone up 14%."

He added: "This pilot with France is a milestone because it sends an immediate deterrent to people, many of them coming obviously across the water, that we will send them back, and it is our hope to see that grow over the coming months and years because we have to bear down on the gangs and we have to smash the model effectively and we have to ensure that those who do not have a right to be here are sent back to the countries from which they are from."

But a people smuggler has said that the UK must deport at least 2,000 migrants in order to stop small boat crossings.

Rob Lawrie, a former soldier and aid worker who co-presents the To Catch a Scorpion podcast, said he had spoken to another smuggler based in Germany last week.

"He says the UK would need to be sending back at least 2,000 people a week, and even if the UK sent 2,000 people back, we could send 2,000 a day," Lawrie told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.