Number of migrants reaching the U.K. in small boats in a single day hits a 2025 high

Home Office figures show record migrant arrivals in UK, putting pressure on Labour government to tackle smuggling gangs.

U.K. government figures Sunday (June 1, 2025) showed that more than 1,100 migrants arrived in the country on Saturday (May 31, 2025) in small boats from France across the English Channel, the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year.

The latest Home Office figures show that 1,194 migrants arrived in 18 boats on Saturday in what were settled weather conditions, bringing the provisional annual total so far to 14,811.

That's 42% higher than the same point last year, an increase that has piled pressure on the Labour government, which returned to power nearly a year ago partly on disillusionment with the previous Conservative administration 's efforts to get a grip on the the numbers making the crossing.

Having ditched the Conservative government's plan to send migrants who arrived in the U.K. by unauthorized means to Rwanda, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government would get control by smashing the gangs and the business models that sustain their smuggling operations.

Since gaining power, Starmer's government has sought better intelligence-sharing internationally, enhanced enforcement operations in northern France and has adopted tougher rules in its immigration legislation.

French police officers were seen watching Saturday as migrants boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats. French authorities said they rescued 184 people.

“Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday," Defense Secretary John Healey told Sky News.