‘Out of control!’ Keir Starmer’s small boats record worse than Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s as 44,000 migrants cross Channel in PM’s first year

The rate across Sunak’s entire stint in No10 is only marginally lower than the figure for that period, with 50,420 crossings across 618 days equating to around 82 new arrivals per day.

However, Starmer’s average arrival rate from a total of 44,069 migrant crossings currently stands at 120 per day, well above Boris Johnson’s daily figure of 58 Channel crossing asylum seekers.

Johnson oversaw 65,815 migrants cross the Channel during his 1,140 days in Downing Street but was in charge for much of the record-busting year of 2022.

With Britain basking in a summer heatwave, Starmer might soon need to brace for receiving the unwanted accolade of overseeing the higher number of Channel crossings in a calendar year to date.

Johnson, Truss and Sunak currently share the title after 45,755 migrants reached British shores in 2022.

However, while more than 20,000 have crossed the Channel so far this year, the number of small boat arrivals stood at just 12,900 at the same point in 2022.

Despite 2022 being a record-breaking year for Channel crossings, new arrivals did not surpass 20,000 until August 14, 2022, putting the current figure some six-weeks ahead of schedule.

Comparing Johnson’s first 365 days in No10 to Starmer’s also makes for painful reading for the Prime Minister, with the daily average over that period standing at just 13.

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However, the Prime Minister does fare better than Liz Truss’s daily rate of 212 new arrivals, with an unprecedented 10,397 migrants crossing the Channel during her brief 49-day stint in Downing Street.

The total number of migrants who have crossed the Channel since the crisis started in 2018 now stands over 170,000 - making it roughly equal to the population of Oxford and around the same size as the British Armed Forces.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has warned that the migrant crisis is now “out of control”.

He told GB News: “The Labour Government’s claim to smash the gangs is in tatters.

“The boats are flooding over in record numbers and 2025 so far has been the worst in history.

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“Labour cancelled our removals deterrent after the General Election, just days before it was due to start, and they have lost control of our borders as a result.

The public are furious - and rightly so. We urgently need a removals deterrent so every single illegal immigrant who arrives is removed to a location outside Europe.

“The deterrent effect means crossings would then rapidly stop, as they did when Australia did something similar around 12 years ago.”

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson also warned: “Starmer is no friend of the British people and allowing thousands of potential criminals into our country is his way of sticking two fingers up to the hardworking Brits who have to pay for these economic spongers crossing the Channel.

“I don't want these people ruining our country but Starmer obviously does.”

Starmer entered No10 promising “stop the chaos” by “smashing criminal gangs”.

The Prime Minister, who scrapped Sunak’s Rwanda scheme shortly after winning the 2024 General Election, also set up a new Border Security Command.

He has since looked to form closer ties with European allies to deal with the Channel crossing crisis.

Starmer is currently talking to Balkan countries about the possibility of creating “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is trying to push her Border Security, Asylum & Immigration Bill through Parliament.

The legislation promises to hand counter-terror style powers to police and introduce new criminal offences to crackdown on people-smuggling gangs.

However, MPs continue to express concerns about whether Starmer’s Government is going far enough, with Reform UK continuing to garner support amid public fears about illegal migration.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

“That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down the people smuggling gangs at every stage, backed with more investment in the Border Security Command.

“Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum & Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs."

“We have also returned nearly 30,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other people with no right to be in the UK.”