Over 1,000 migrants are believed to have crossed the English Channel in small boats on Saturday, marking the highest daily figure since May when 1,195 people made the journey.
The surge brings the total number of Channel arrivals this year to more than 30,000. It comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepares to announce plans to shut down migrant hotels and move residents into former military barracks.
Two Ministry of Defence sites – MDP Wethersfield in Essex and Napier Barracks in Folkestone – are already housing asylum seekers. The facilities were first opened under the Conservative government but faced criticism from pro-migrant organisations, who likened the barracks to prisons. Labour previously signalled it would close the sites but now intends to expand their use.
Starmer has come under increasing pressure over immigration in recent weeks after official figures revealed asylum applications had hit record levels, with more people being placed in hotels compared with last year. Labour MPs have urged him to take a tougher stance, while both the Conservatives and Reform UK have pledged to step up detention and deportation.
Immigration has now overtaken the economy as the biggest public concern, according to regular polling. The rise in Channel crossings has fuelled anger in communities near migrant hotels, where protests have broken out.
Last month, a council northeast of London secured a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from being housed in a local hotel after one resident was charged with sexual assault. Other councils have suggested they may pursue similar legal action.
Reform leader Nigel Farage has also called for more demonstrations, while Conservative home affairs spokesman Chris Philp accused Labour of failing to manage the crisis, stating: “Labour has lost control of our borders and they’re engulfed in a migration crisis.”
The latest migration data revealed that more than 32,000 asylum seekers were living in hotels at the end of June, an 8 percent rise on the year before. However, the figure remains 43 percent lower than the peak of 56,042 recorded in September 2023.
At the same time, asylum claims reached 111,000 in the year to June, up 14 percent compared with the previous year and surpassing the previous record of 103,000 set in 2002. Small boat arrivals rose 38 percent over the same period, further intensifying political and public pressure on the government.
Critics argue that the influx poses risks to public safety, while migrant support groups counter that the issue is being exploited by far-right groups to inflame tensions.
