Sir Keir Starmer has said 24,000 people who “have no right to be here” have been returned since Labour took power as he opened the government’s border security summit.
The prime minister said it was the “highest return rate for eight years”.
Since Labour took office last July, 29,884 people have been detected crossing the Channel on 542 small boats.
A total of 6,642 people crossed between 1 January to 30 March this year – a 43% increase on the same time last year, when the Conservatives were in power.
Crossings this year passed 5,000 on 21 March, a record compared with the previous seven years since the first crossings in 2018 – and 24% higher than 2024, and 36% higher than 2023.
Interior ministers and law enforcement from more than 40 countries, including the US, Iraq, Vietnam and France, are at the summit at Lancaster House in central London.
Meta, X and TikTok representatives are also there to discuss how to tackle the online promotion of illegal migration.
Sir Keir told the gathering he was “angry” about the scale of illegal immigration around the world as he said it was a “massive driver of global insecurity”.
“The truth is, we can only smash these gangs once and for all if we work together,” he said.
“Because this evil trade, it exploits the cracks between our institutions. It pits nations against one another. It profits from our inability at the political level to come together.”
He said people smuggling should be treated as a global security threat similar to terrorism.
“None of these strategies, as you know, are a silver bullet. I know that,” he told the summit.
“But each of them is another tool, an arsenal that we’re building up to smash the gangs once and for all.”
In a speech at the organised immigration crime summit, Sir Keir Starmer pointedly told global delegates there is nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to people smuggling.
This is as much a direct challenge to other nations as it is to those in his party who may be uncomfortable with talk of cracking down on illegal migration and making it harder to claim asylum in the UK.
In an effort to front up to the problem, the PM and home secretary both outlined the deep complexities involved in stopping the boats; interrupting supply chains, financial sanctions on gangs and blocking social media content advertising routes to the UK.
Labour’s message? Bear with us, this is harder than it looks.
But, with public patience wearing dangerously thin on small boats crossings after endless promises from Labour and the Conservatives, and with record numbers crossing the Channel – a 43% rise on this time last year – the prime minister knows he has very little time to persuade the public he can deliver.
Senior government sources tell me they are far more worried about Reform UK denting their vote share than they are about the Conservatives – and the PM’s message today indicates just that.
In his speech, Sir Keir twice cited what he called the unfairness of illegal migration: driving down working people’s wages, terms and conditions, and putting valuable public services under strain.
This shift in tone, directly juxtaposing working people with migrants, feels like a subtle yet significant tilt to voters who may be tempted by Nigel Farage’s rhetoric on migration.
However, we may begin to see some Labour MPs fidgeting in their seats as it is sure to make some of them a little uncomfortable.
Sir Keir appears to be marching up the hill the Tories died on. So will this all too familiar hike prove fatal, or will he succeed where Rishi Sunak failed?
And if Sir Keir does succeed and manages to make a significant dent in the number of small boat crossings before the next general election, Reform may not prove to be as lethal an opponent as first thought.
UK has been a ‘soft touch on migration’
The prime minister criticised the previous Conservative government for allowing illegal migration to soar, saying: “For too long the UK has been a soft touch on migration.”
He said a lack of co-ordination between the police and intelligence agencies had been an “open invitation” for people smugglers to send migrants to the UK.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper at the summit. Pic: PA
Cooper reveals small boats gang tactics
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also spoke at the event, where she revealed some of the horrifying tactics used by gangs smuggling people over to the UK in small boats.
She said they place women and children in the middle of the flimsy rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), and when they collapse due to overcrowding, they fold in and crush them.
“All of your countries will have different stories of the way in which the gangs are exploiting people into sexual exploitation, into slave labour, into crime, the way in which the gangs are using new technology,” she said.
She said they were not just using phones and social media to organise crossings, but also drones to spot border patrols.
“It is governments and not gangs who should be deciding who enters our country,” she said.
Sir Keir also hosted a roundtable discussion joined by border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle, Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt and Home Office, Border Force and National Crime Agency officials.
Image: The PM led a roundtable discussion with UK law enforcement and ministers. Pic: Reuters
Ministers ‘disappointed’ in small boat numbers
Before the summit, Dame Angela told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast ministers were “disappointed” in the number of small boat crossings in recent months.
She said one reason was more people were being packed into each boat. She also said smuggler gangs have been allowed to grow “very sophisticated” global networks over many years.
Earlier, Ms Cooper announced £30m funding for “high impact operations” by the Border Security Command (BSC) to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Western Balkans, Asia and Africa.
An additional £3m will be given to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to increase its capacity to prosecute organised international smugglers and to support the BSC to pursue and arrest those responsible for people smuggling operations.
While the politicians talk, so many people come from around the world to try to get across the Channel on small boats. But why?
Why make such a perilous crossing to try to get to a country that seems to be getting increasingly hostile to asylum seekers?
As the British and French leaders meet, with small boats at the forefront of their agenda, we came to northern France to get some answers.
It is not a new question, but it is peppered with fresh relevance.
Over the course of a morning spent around a migrant camp in Dunkirk, we meet migrantsfrom Gaza, Iraq, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and beyond.
Some are fearful, waving us away; some are happy to talk. Very few are comfortable to be filmed.
All but one man – who says he’s come to the wrong place and actually wants to claim asylum in Paris – are intent on reaching Britain.
They see the calm seas, feel the light winds – perfect conditions for small boat crossings.
John has come here from South Sudan. He tells me he’s now 18 years old. He left his war-torn home nation just before his 16th birthday. He feels that reaching Britain is his destiny.
“England is my dream country,” he says. “It has been my dream since I was at school. It’s the country that colonised us and when I get there, I will feel like I am home.
“In England, they can give me an opportunity to succeed or to do whatever I need to do in my life. I feel like I am an English child, who was born in Africa.”
Image: ‘England is my dream country,’ John tells Adam Parsons
He says he would like to make a career in England, either as a journalist or in human resources, and, like many others we meet, is at pains to insist he will work hard.
The boat crossing is waved away as little more than an inconvenience – a trifle compared with the previous hardships of his journey towards Britain.
We meet a group of men who have all travelled from Gaza, intent on starting new lives in Britain and then bringing their families over to join them.
One man, who left Gaza two years ago, tells me that his son has since been shot in the leg “but there is no hospital for him to go to”.
Next to him, a man called Abdullah says he entered Europe through Greece and stayed there for months on end, but was told the Greek authorities would never allow him to bring over his family.
Britain, he thinks, will be more accommodating. “Gaza is being destroyed – we need help,” he says.
Image: Abdullah says ‘Gaza is being destroyed – we need help’
A man from Eritreatells us he is escaping a failing country and has friends in Britain – he plans to become a bicycle courier in either London or Manchester.
He can’t stay in France, he says, because he doesn’t speak French. The English language is presented as a huge draw for many of the people we talk to, just as it had been during similar conversations over the course of many years.
I ask many of these people why they don’t want to stay in France, or another safe European country.
Some repeat that they cannot speak the language and feel ostracised. Another says that he tried, and failed, to get a residency permit in both France and Belgium.
But this is also, clearly, a flawed survey. Last year, five times as many people sought asylum in France as in Britain.
And French critics have long insisted that Britain, a country without a European-style ID card system, makes itself attractive to migrants who can “disappear”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:48
Migrant Channel crossings hit new record
A young man from Iraq, with absolutely perfect English, comes for a chat. He oozes confidence and a certain amount of mischief.
It has taken him only seven days to get from Iraq to Dunkirk; when I ask how he has made the trip so quickly, he shrugs. “Money talks”.
He looks around him. “Let me tell you – all of these people you see around you will be getting to Britain and the first job they get will be in the black market, so they won’t be paying any tax.
“Back in the day in Britain, they used to welcome immigrants very well, but these days I don’t think they want to, because there’s too many of them coming by boat. Every day it’s about seven or 800 people. That’s too many people.”
“But,” I ask, “if those people are a problem – then what makes you different? Aren’t you a problem too?”
He shakes his head emphatically. “I know that I’m a very good guy. And I won’t be a problem. I’ll only stay in Britain for a few years and then I’ll leave again.”
A man from Sri Lanka says he “will feel safe” when he gets to Britain; a tall, smiling man from Ethiopia echoes the sentiment: “We are not safe in our home country so we have come all this way,” he says. “We want to work, to be part of Britain.”
Emmanuel is another from South Sudan – thoughtful and eloquent. He left his country five years ago – “at the start of COVID” – and has not seen his children in all that time. His aim is to start a new life in Britain, and then to bring his family to join him.
He is a trained electrical engineer, but says he could also work as a lorry driver. He is adamant that Britain has a responsibility to the people of its former colony.
Follow The World
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Emmanuel Macron has said the UK and France have a “shared responsibility” to tackle the “burden” of illegal migration, as he urged co-operation between London and Paris ahead of a crunch summit later this week.
Addressing parliament in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, the French president said the UK-France summit would bring “cooperation and tangible results” regarding the small boats crisis in the Channel.
Image: King Charles III at the State Banquet for President of France Emmanuel Macron. Pic: PA
Mr Macron – who is the first European leader to make a state visit to the UK since Brexit – told the audience that while migrants’ “hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate”, “we cannot allow our countries’ rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life”.
“France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness,” he added.
Looking ahead to the UK-France summit on Thursday, he promised the “best ever cooperation” between France and the UK “to fix today what is a burden for our two countries”.
Sir Keir Starmer will hope to reach a deal with his French counterpart on a “one in, one out” migrant returns deal at the key summit on Thursday.
King Charles also addressed the delegations at a state banquet in Windsor Castle on Tuesday evening, saying the summit would “deepen our alliance and broaden our partnerships still further”.
Image: King Charles speaking at state banquet welcoming Macron.
Sitting next to President Macron, the monarch said: “Our armed forces will cooperate even more closely across the world, including to support Ukraine as we join together in leading a coalition of the willing in defence of liberty and freedom from oppression. In other words, in defence of our shared values.”
In April, British officials confirmed a pilot scheme was being considered to deport migrants who cross the English Channel in exchange for the UK accepting asylum seekers in France with legitimate claims.
The two countries have engaged in talks about a one-for-one swap, enabling undocumented asylum seekers who have reached the UK by small boat to be returned to France.
Spotify
This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
Britain would then receive migrants from France who would have a right to be in the UK, like those who already have family settled here.
The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.
Image: President Macron greets Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle at his address to parliament in Westminster.
Elsewhere in his speech, the French president addressed Brexit, and said the UK could not “stay on the sidelines” despite its departure from the European Union.
He said European countries had to break away from economic dependence on the US and China.
“Our two countries are among the oldest sovereign nations in Europe, and sovereignty means a lot to both of us, and everything I referred to was about sovereignty, deciding for ourselves, choosing our technologies, our economy, deciding our diplomacy, and deciding the content we want to share and the ideas we want to share, and the controversies we want to share.
“Even though it is not part of the European Union, the United Kingdom cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity – are connected across Europe as a continent.”
The Princess of Wales and celebrities attended the King’s star-studded state banquet on Tuesday, where Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
On the first day of Mr Macron’s state visit, King Charles gave a toast in French and said the three-day trip was another chance to “celebrate a deep and enduring friendship”.
“What’s possibly the most remarkable thing is the way in which the speciality of one country is part of the story of the other,” the monarch said.
“For centuries, our citizens have admired one another. We’ve made each other laugh, and we’ve imitated one another.”
Image: The Prince and Princess of Wales at the State Banquet. Pic: PA
Image: The banquet hall at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
Image: The King makes a speech at a banquet at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
Image: King Charles looks at Emmanuel Macron at a state banquet at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
After the King’s speech, Mr Macron told him France had a “real affection for your mother” Queen Elizabeth II, adding he believed the feeling was “reciprocal”.
“She was your queen,” he said. “To us, she was the Queen.”
He capped off his speech – which repeated his calls for closer relations that he made earlier in the Palace of Westminster – by saying: “In honour of the United Kingdom, of this entente amico that unites our two fraternal peoples in an unwavering alliance.
“Long live the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland! Long live France!”
Image: Emmanuel Macron gives a speech at a state banquet at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
The Princess of Wales also made her first appearance at a state banquet in almost two years, sitting next to the French president.
Image: Emmanuel Macron and Kate, the Princess of Wales, share a toast. Pic: PA
Also in attendance were Sir Mick Jagger, frontman of The Rolling Stones, who was joined by his fiancee Melanie Hamrick, and Sir Elton John, who was accompanied by his husband David Furnish.
Image: Mick Jagger taking his seat at the state banquet at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
Image: Elton John and David Furnish at the state banquet at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
Meanwhile, it was announced that the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman conquest of England, will return to the UK for the first time in more than 900 years, and will feature in an exhibition from September 2026 to July 2027.
Mr Macron joked ahead of the state banquet that negotiations to bring the 11th-century artwork back to the UK took longer “than all the Brexit tests”. Talks on a loan had started as early as 2018.