The UK government has admitted it has “lost control” of its borders after a record 1,194 illegal migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats on Saturday— the highest daily figure this year. Despite paying France hundreds of millions to stop the crossings, French authorities only intercepted 184 migrants, around 15 percent of those who set sail.
Home Office data shows a staggering 14,811 migrants have arrived so far in 2025—42 percent more than this time last year. Defence Secretary John Healey pinned the blame on previous Tory governments for leaving the asylum system in “chaos.” Yet the current Labour government has refused to exit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which critics say makes deportations nearly impossible and incentivizes illegal crossings.
Healey said the government is pressuring Paris to fully implement new rules allowing French police to stop migrant boats in shallow waters, but admitted they aren’t doing so yet. “We’ve got the agreement… but they will change the way they work,” he told Sky News.
Meanwhile, the scale of the crisis has overwhelmed British authorities. The coastguard had to call on fishing boats over the weekend to help assist struggling migrant vessels, as its resources were stretched thin. Attorney General Richard Hermer stirred controversy earlier this week by comparing leaving the ECHR to Nazi Germany—comments he later apologized for, calling them “clumsy.”
Calls are growing for the UK to exit the ECHR and take back full control of its borders. But as illegal crossings surge, government officials continue to dodge the core issue: without the ability to swiftly deport illegal migrants, the crisis will only get worse.
