A surge of more than 1,000 small boat arrivals in three days has intensified the political battle over Britain’s Channel strategy, with the opposition accusing the government of losing control of the border while Prime Minister Andy Burnham argued that Brexit had made co-operation with European neighbours more difficult.
Home Office figures show that 150 people arrived in the UK by small boat on September 21, followed by 154 on September 22 and 781 on September 23 — a total of 1,085 people over three days. The figures are provisional and subject to revision.
The spike came despite a wider decline in crossings this year. The Home Office says 33,374 people arrived by small boat in the year to June 2026, 23 per cent fewer than the previous year, while ministers said in September that arrivals so far this year were more than 40 per cent lower than over the same period in 2025.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, used the latest figures to attack Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, arguing that the government had failed to prevent boats reaching Britain.
“It does show that Shabana Mahmood has no control of our borders, with these boats making it all the way across undetected. There may be others, as you rightly say. Now, last week was a shocking week … we had a boat crossing from Normandy crossing towards the Isle of Wight, the longest ever crossing, and in just three days last week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – over 1,000 illegal immigrants entered the country.”
Philp also criticised French enforcement, arguing that Britain’s financial support for French operations had failed to deliver the level of intervention he believes is required.
“The French Interior Minister Monsieur Nuñez admitted a couple of days ago that the French gendarmes that we pay for have orders to stand around doing nothing and not intervening. I personally witnessed that just a few weeks ago on the beaches. They’re doing nothing to stop these boats.”
France’s position is more complicated. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told a parliamentary inquiry in June that police and gendarmes do not intervene once migrants are in the water, except where rescue is required, while maritime operations are governed separately. France has also deployed specialist units under its agreement with Britain to disrupt launches and people-smuggling networks.
The UK-France returns arrangement has so far resulted in more than 1,400 people being returned to France, according to the government, while the two countries have expanded intelligence-sharing and policing co-operation.
Philp argued that Britain should instead follow Australia’s approach and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.
“There is only one solution to this, which is to do what the Australians did about 13 years ago: leave the ECHR and deport all of these illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, and then the crossings will pretty quickly stop.”
Burnham, speaking during Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, offered a different explanation for the persistence of the crossings.
He argued that Britain’s departure from the EU had weakened the mechanisms available to prevent boats from crossing the Channel.
The UK and European Union “had a more co-operative system, if you like, in the past” to prevent small boats crossing between France and Britain, he told BBC South East.
“We are not able to have the same levels of collaboration that we used to have, but I don’t put that forward as a reason why we won’t keep working until we get the crossings right down,” he said.
The Prime Minister declined to set a deadline for ending the crossings, saying he would not promise a date by which every boat would be stopped.
“But what I will say to you is I will not stop, nor will the Home Secretary, until we bear down every element of this criminal, illegal activity,” he added.
The disagreement exposes a difficult political calculation for the government. Ministers can point to a substantial year-on-year reduction and a growing network of enforcement agreements, while opponents can focus on individual periods of exceptionally high arrivals and the continued ability of organised smuggling networks to launch boats.
The latest figures also underline the volatility of Channel crossings. Ten boats carrying 781 people arrived on September 23 alone, compared with no recorded arrivals on each of September 18, 19 and 20.
For Burnham, the challenge is to demonstrate that the longer-term reduction can be sustained while convincing voters that the government can prevent sudden surges. For Philp and the opposition, the three-day total provides fresh ammunition for their argument that the government’s border strategy remains vulnerable.
The numbers therefore offer competing narratives: a significant annual decline alongside a striking short-term surge. The political argument over which matters more is likely to intensify as ministers attempt to turn the government’s new cross-border enforcement arrangements into a sustained reduction in Channel crossings.
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