A record 820 migrants crossed the English Channel on Wednesday as the death toll continued to rise.
Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs” was left in tatters as people smugglers continued to make a mockery of the borders on Wednesday.
It is the first time more than 800 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel in a single day this year.
The alarming figures came as two migrants died attempting to cross the English Channel in a boat packed with almost 80 people – taking the death toll to at least 17.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer is smashing records but not the ones anyone wants. Over 800 illegal migrants crossed the Channel today – 2025 so far has been the worst year ever for small boat crossings.
“On day one, Starmer scrapped the only deterrent to crossings which the National Crime Agency said was essential, now the Channel has become a conveyor belt for illegal immigration. Only the Conservatives under new leadership will implement the Deportation Bill and take the radical action to stop these crossings.”
AThe French coastguard said two asylum seekers were recovered from the water unconscious after attempting an overnight crossing.
Another 10 people were rescued in the latest Channel horror and the boat was allowed to carry on to Britain after the other migants refused to be rescued.
Rescue teams said the vessel left from a beach in Gravelines.
A spokesman for France’s Maritime prefecture confirmed that the unidentified migrants were “pulled out by a Navy vessel” and sailors “performed first aid on the two victims, but they were soon declared dead.”
Another investigating source said the the boat was “heavily overcrowded”, and designed to carry no more than 20 people.
Pictures show migrants wrapped in blankets disembarking from a Border Force boat in Dover, Kent, on Wednesday morning.
Others were also brought to shore in an RNLI lifeboat.
The deaths on Wednesday come just days after another migrant was confirmed dead after a small boat sank in the Channel.
The Maritime Prefect of the Channel and the North Sea said on Monday that 62 people were pulled from the water after the “overloaded” boat broke up overnight.
Almost 13,000 people have made the journey across the Channel and arrived in the UK so far this year, a record number for this point in the calendar year.