Over 780 illegal migrants have arrived in the UK in a record-breaking day for English Channel crossings.
A total of 781 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the waterway.
The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2026 now stands at 18,565, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.
This is down 42 per cent on the equivalent point last year, when the total stood at 32,188.
The latest figures showed boats arrived on Wednesday, which suggests an average of 78 people per boat
Speaking this morning before the figures were released, Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: “It’s our aim, to stop these crossings.
“That requires a huge range of actions which we are taking from stopping things at source, from acquiring boats, from taking steps that we’re taking with the French authorities to stop people making the crossings on the first place.
Asked if she stood by her earlier comments where she said you “can’t stop everything all the time,” she told Good Morning Britain: “I think you’re just taking that completely out of context.”
Lucy Powell has refused to confirm whether the illegal migrants who entered the UK on ‘undetected’ small boats have all been detained | GB NEWSShe continued: “We are clamping down on small boat crossings every single day…we are sucking the oxygen out of it, we are taking steps, and there are many, many steps.
“It’s not an easy thing to do to just turn on a switch, turn off a switch overnight. We have to constantly evolve.”
Reacting to the comments made by Ms Powell, Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour have admitted they will never stop the boats. Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was always a farce, and open-borders Burnham has learnt absolutely nothing from his predecessor.
“The only way to stop the crossings is to deport all illegal immigrants on arrival, and only the Conservatives have a plan to do that.”
The latest figures from the Home Office are in
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PA
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Until the Government adopts Liberal Democrat proposals to tackle the root cause by entering the EU’s landmark migration and asylum pact, these smugglers will continue to find a way through.
“Lives will be put at risk and taxpayers’ money will be wasted.”
Reacting to Ms Powell’s comments this morning, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: “This is an abject surrender of our borders by Lucy Powell and Labour.
“Every migrant boat can and should be intercepted, but this government is too gutless to deploy the Royal Navy and protect the British public from this invasion of undocumented fighting-age men.
“Reform’s Operation Fortress will intercept every illegal dinghy and put an end to the boat crossings in our first 100 days of government.
“Anything less will mean hundreds of thousands more invaders will use the Channel to break into Britain.”
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