Labour’s asylum crisis is “worse” than when Tony Blair considered radical emergency plans to prevent the system collapsing, his former Border chief warned.
The number of people claiming asylum in the UK hit 108,183 in the year to December, higher than the previous peak of 84,132 in 2002.
But former Border Force Director General Tony Smith told the Daily Express that the Channel migrant crisis and people exploiting “weaknesses in our visa system” to “dupe” officials into letting them into the UK should be triggering more alarm bells in Whitehall.
Mr Smith, the Head of Border Control in the UK Immigration Service between 2005 and 2007: “Notwithstanding measures by successive governments to reduce asylum intake, we are back where we started. In fact, it’s got worse.”
Asylum seekers were in 2002 filmed climbing the Eurostar fences close to the Channel, getting into the freight areas to travel to the UK on or inside lorries and were seen sleeping in tents on beaches and on park benches.
In response, Sir Tony’s advisors considered abolishing the asylum system, and drew up proposals to legislate for “incompatibly” with the European Convention on Human Rights.
This would have allowed ministers to deport thousands of migrants “regardless of the risk that they might suffer inhuman or degrading treatment”, according to papers released by the National Archives.
Papers from 2003, released by the National Archives, show Mr Blair was increasingly frustrated by the failure to deter people from coming to the UK.
He had called for more “radical” ideas.
Outlining the current crisis facing the UK, Mr Smith said: “Last week’s announcement that France is to change the law so it can stop vessels from leaving their beaches in shallow waters won’t stop the boats.
“Nor will the Government’s new plan to smash the gangs, by extending our enforcement powers to investigate and prosecute human smugglers. There is too much money, and too many gangs involved.
“The only way to stop them is to either send them straight back to France, or to send them to some other safe country (such as Rwanda) where they can be processed.
“Meanwhile we can smarten up our act by not adding visa applicants to the asylum backlog, which is already overburdened as it is.”
Almost 40,000 of the asylum claims were linked to small boat arrivals, prompting fears many of them are arriving by other routes only to then submit a claim for protection.
And Mr Smith warned: “Last week’s asylum figures suggest that thousands may be exploiting the visa system by pretending to be temporary visitors or students in order to get here to claim asylum.
“The government must identify which embassies are being duped into handing out visas to asylum seekers. Once people have a valid passport and a valid visa, they can board a flight to come to the UK – and there is nothing the Border Force can do to stop them.
“And it’s much cheaper and easier to get a visa than to pay a smuggler to come over land and sea to get here.
“All visa applicants are fingerprinted at the point of application, as are asylum seekers.
“We can even access the original visa application and get a copy of the passport. Then if posts abroad are issuing visas to migrants who are pretending to be visitors, students or workers when their true intention is to come to claim asylum and live here, we can do something about it.”
Stressing that the Home Office must know more about who is claiming asylum after being given a visa, Mr Smith said ministers should consider introducing a “biometric entry / exit system”.
He said: “People could be photographed when they enter the country and again when they leave, and we would know exactly how many people are coming and going rather than relying upon unreliable ONS data like we do now.
“And we would know who is overstaying their permission to be here. It’s perfectly possible with modern day technology – and it’s already happening in other countries like Dubai, Singapore and the USA.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express: “Labour is presiding over the worst asylum crisis ever.
“Illegal immigrants crossing the Channel are up 26% since the election compared to the same period 12 months previously.
“Illegal immigrants in hotels have gone up by 8500 since the election – costing hard-working British taxpayers billions of pounds a year.
“We have a weak Prime Minister and a weak government who have lost control of our borders.”
Some 592 people were intercepted in the Channel by Border Force vessels in 11 inflatables on Sunday as people smugglers took advantage of calm seas.
It is a record number for the year so far and the largest number to arrive at the Port of Dover in Kent since 609 made the crossing in nine boats on December 12, 2024, according to official figures.
Mr Philp added: “We now need the French to start intercepting these boats in French waters and the government must urgently start a removals program, so people arriving illegally in the UK are immediately removed.”
Groups of people in red lifejackets were brought off several Border Force vessels.
They were then escorted off the vessels and walked up a gangway to the centre before being taken to holding centres.
And migrants had to be rescued on Sunday after smugglers launched a boat from Baie de Somme, illustrating how the organised crime gangs are spreading even further south along the French coast.
Baie de Somme is some 65 miles south of Calais.
The vessel hit a wall in Hardelot after running aground, plunging dozens into the water.
One migrant was in a critical condition, while two were treated for hypothermia by French emergency services, according to the French coastguard.
At least 54 people were on the boat, with some rescued by the French navy ship Garonne, while others were led to safety by personnel on the beach.
Audrey Baconnais-Rosez, the local state representative in Dieppe, said they had seen “an increase in people trying to depart from Normandy, but the number of migrants is still much lower than what we have in the north of France.”
The majority of the small-boat crossing attempts are made from the Calais and Dunkirk region, but some rescues took place in the Dieppe area in December and January – about 180km (112 miles) further south.
French interior minister Bruno Retailleau has announced Paris will change the law to allow police to intercept small boats in shallow waters.
In exchange, Britain has vowed to step up enforcement action against migrants working in the “black economy”.
Sunday’s arrivals take the number to make it across the Dover Straits so far this year to 2,716 in 51 boats.
In 2024 a total of 36,816 people in 695 boats.
Asked if the Prime Minister would look to copy some of Donald Trump’s border control policies following a 93% fall in illegal crossings his spokesman said: “There are no quick fixes to the curbing of illegal migration and the asylum system we inherited from the previous government was in chaos but if you look at what we have done, we’ve removed 19,000 asylum failed asylum seekers, enforced returns are 24% and we’ve increased the number of foreign national offenders being removed from the UK by 21%.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of people stuck in a backlog, claims not being processed and record numbers of small boat crossings.
“We are committed to restoring order to the system which is why we have taken immediate action to start processing claims and returning people – redeploying 1,000 staff and already returning more than 19,000 individuals with no right to be here.
“Individuals who have entered the UK via irregular and regular routes can apply for asylum and all asylum claims are carefully considered on their individual merits and in line with published policy.”