With more than 52,000 people having crossed the English Channel illegally since the General Election, Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to cut immigration – so today Express.co.uk readers are being asked: “Is immigration too high?” Home Office figures show 30,164 small boat arrivals so far in 2025, up 35% from 22,440 at this point last year. Net migration fell to 431,000 in 2024 – 948,000 arrivals minus 517,000 departures – but asylum claims smashed records at 111,084 in the year to June, a 14% rise.
Labour’s one-in, one-out scheme with France, agreed in July, has seen just four deportations so far, against a 50-a-week target. Sir Keir’s pledge to “smash the boats” via the Border Security Command has done little to stem the tide, critics have claimed.
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Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded 2025 a “catastrophe”, with Reform UK accusing Labour of open borders.
Today’s launch of the compulsory “Brit Card” digital ID for workers – to verify rights and kill illegal jobs – has stoked the debate. Civil liberties groups slam it as a “Big Brother nightmare”, echoing Tony Blair’s binned scheme, while Northern Ireland’s Michelle O’Neill warns it shreds the Good Friday Agreement.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage fired back, vowing to scrap indefinite leave to remain and force migrants to reapply every five years under tough salary, language and family tests – targeting “hundreds of thousands” for removal to fix “Boris Johnson’s chaos”.
As Dover erupts in protests and Reform surges in polls, Starmer insists on “tough action” to spare public services. Do you trust him?
