More than 1,000 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom in small boats on Saturday, pushing the 2025 total above 30,000 in record time and confronting new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on her first day in office.
The Home Office said 1,097 people landed on 17 boats on Saturday, the highest daily total since 1,195 arrivals recorded on May 31. The tally for 2025 reached roughly 30,100, an increase of about 37 percent compared with the same point in 2024 (22,028) and 2023 (21,918). Since Labour took office on July 4 last year, 53,342 people have arrived in small boats, the Home Office figures show.
Mahmood, speaking on Sunday, described the crossings as "utterly unacceptable" and said she would "explore all options to restore order to our immigration system." She said a bilateral arrangement with France to return people crossing in small boats would begin soon and that she expected the first returns to take place "imminently." Ministers are reported to be close to a reciprocal arrangement with Germany described as a "one in, one out" returns deal.
The new home secretary said she would consider transferring people from hotel accommodation to military barracks and review human rights legislation to make it easier to reject and deport some asylum claimants. A government source said "nothing is off the table" as ministers seek to reduce crossings and increase removals.
Opposition and smaller-party figures seized on the weekend figures to criticise the government. Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour had "lost control of our borders," calling the year "the worst in history for illegal Channel crossings." He blamed the government for abandoning the previously proposed Rwanda plan, saying its removal had weakened deterrence.
Reform UK, an opposition party pressing for more radical change, said Labour had allowed "tens of thousands" of mostly adult men to enter and argued the government was only "tinkering around the edges." Zia Yusuf, Reform's head of policy, said the party would take stiffer measures, including leaving international treaties and foreign courts if it were to take power. Former Reform figurehead Nigel Farage, speaking at the party conference last week, had pledged to stop the crossings within two weeks of passing new legislation; on Sunday he said Reform would end the crisis "as quickly as we possibly can."
Defence Secretary John Healey said the prime minister would not take the United Kingdom out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), adding that Sir Keir Starmer had instructed the new Cabinet to "go up a gear" after a difficult first year in office. Labour insiders reported by news outlets indicated Mahmood may press for changes to the ECHR, a position that would intensify long-running debates over Britain’s international legal obligations and domestic asylum law.
Saturday's crossings add to a trend of rising Channel arrivals this year. The weekend's surge was the second-highest daily total recorded in 2025 and contributed to the milestone being reached earlier in the year than in previous years; the figure of more than 30,000 was not hit until late October in 2024 and was not reached in 2023.
Officials say people-smuggling networks continue to organise crossings from northern France. The government has pursued a range of measures in recent years, including bilateral talks with France on returns, proposals for offshore processing and the previously advanced Rwanda scheme, which attracted legal and political controversy and which ministers have acknowledged faced implementation challenges.
Humanitarian groups and lawyers have warned that rapid changes to asylum law and efforts to detain and remove people en masse could encounter legal obstacles and raise concerns over individuals' rights to seek protection. The government has said it will seek legally robust arrangements for returns and removals.
The immediate steps Mahmood pursues will be watched closely by ministers, opposition parties and campaigners, amid growing public and political pressure to reduce crossings and increase removals. The Home Office figures and public statements make clear the scale of arrivals is a central challenge for the government as it prepares further policy measures and seeks cooperation from European partners.