More than 1,000 migrants are thought to have crossed the English Channel on Saturday.
The figure is the biggest daily total since May, in which more than 1,195 migrants arrived in the UK in a single day.
Saturday’s arrivals takes the total number of Channel arrivals so far this year to more than 30,000.
It also comes after it was revealed that Keir Starmer plans to close down migrant hotels and house residents in former military barracks.
Currently, two former military bases – MDP Wethersfield in Essex and Napier Barracks in Folkestone – are being used to house asylum seekers.
They were opened under the previous Tory government, but pro-migrant groups criticised the move, comparing the barracks to prisons.
But Labour now intends to expand the Conservative policy, despite drawing up plans last year to end the use of the two sites.
More than 1,000 migrants are thought to have crossed the English Channel on Saturday
The figure is the biggest daily total since May
Saturday’s arrivals takes the total number of Channel arrivals so far this year to more than 30,000
Keir Starmer has faced criticism in recent weeks over his immigration policies after new official figures showed asylum seeker claims hitting a record high, with more migrants being housed in hotels compared with a year ago.
Labour MP’s have urged Starmer to take on a more radical approach, while Reform UK and Conservatives have both recently said that they would ramp up the detention and deportation of migrants.
According to a regular tracker of voters’ concerns, immigration has overtaken the economy as the biggest issue amid anger over the record numbers of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel.
Last month, the government was dealt a blow when a council to the northeast of London won a temporary injunction to stop asylum seekers from being housed in a hotel where protests had erupted after one resident was charged with sexual assault.
Other councils have indicated they would also seek similar court orders, while Reform leader Nigel Farage has called for more protests.
‘Labour has lost control of our borders and they’re engulfed in a migration crisis,’ said Chris Philp, the home affairs spokesman for the main opposition Conservative Party.
The new migration data showed more than 32,000 asylum seekers were housed in hotels in Britain at the end of June this year, an increase of 8 percent from the year before.
Border Force escort migrants into Dover Docks, Kent. Border Force help them ashore on AUgust 26
igrants wade through the sea in an attempt to board an inflatable dinghy leaving the coast of northern France to cross the English Channel to reach Britain, from the beach of Petit-Fort-Philippe in Gravelines, near Calais, France, August 25, 2025
A group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Britain
Keir Starmer has faced criticism in recent weeks over his immigration policies after new official figures showed asylum seeker claims hitting a record high
The numbers arriving on small boats – up 38 percent in the year to June – have become the focal point for the migration issue
However, the total figure of just over 32,000 was 43 percent lower than the peak of 56,042 recorded in September 2023, and slightly down compared with the previous quarterly figures in March.
The figures also showed 111,000 people had claimed asylum in the year to June, up 14 percent from the previous year and surpassing the previous peak of 103,000 recorded in 2002.
The numbers arriving on small boats – up 38 percent in the year to June – have become the focal point for the migration issue.
Critics say the public are at risk from thousands of young men coming to Britain, while pro-migrant groups say the issue is being used by far right groups to exploit tensions.
