More than 30,000 migrants have now arrived in Britain by small boat under Keir Starmer - as the number of arrivals continues to surpass that of any other year or Prime Minister on record.

A total of 154 people arrived on Friday in four boats - taking the total number of small boat arrivals under the Labour PM to 30,034.

The number of arrivals for the year totals 6,792 according to MailOnline analysis - higher than any other year on record up to yesterday's date.

In 2020, the number of people who had crossed by this date was 465; in 2021, it was 1,134; by 2022 that had surged to 4,548 before dropping to 3,770 in 2023; it then rose to 4,644 last year.

Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, said it was proof the Government had lost control of migration and that its attempts to break up smuggling gangs were failing.

He told MailOnline: 'These shocking figures show this Labour government has lost control of our borders. When Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda plan before it started, he gave up the only deterrent this country had. 

'Crossings are up 31 per cent since the election and 2025 so far has been the worst year ever as a result. Starmer's claim to 'smash the gangs' lies in tatters.'

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that good weather had enabled the high number of arrivals in March after January and February, when several storms were wreaking havoc on the UK, had lower levels of crossings than previous years. 

'March had much higher levels and the really unacceptable situation that we're in is because of the way the criminal gangs have taken hold, our border security ends up being dependent on the weather and we cannot continue like this, where the number of calm days affects the number of crossings and affects our border security as well,' Ms Cooper told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

Ms Cooper added: 'We've seen higher numbers in March, lower numbers in January and February, and that's reflected in the number of calm days. 

'We cannot carry on with border security being so dependent on the number of calm days that happen in the Channel.'

The Tories have proposed initiatives to reduce and deter migration, from deporting foreign criminals to repealing the Human Rights Act in matters concerning immigration.

Mr Philp added: 'If Labour was serious about protecting Britain they would back these measures - but instead Labour voted against them. Labour is an open borders Government.'

On average, more than 55 people are being stuffed into tiny inflatable dinghies at a time and cast into the Channel - not all of whom will necessarily make it across alive.

According to the French-run Office for the Fight against Illicit Trafficking of Migrants, 78 people died trying to reach Britain via small boat last year.

And last week, two migrants died in the space of two days last week. At least eight others have either died or been reported missing in the Channel since the start of 2025, according to the United Nation's International Organisation for Migration.

A Home Office spokesperson said of the ongoing small boats crisis: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

'That’s why this government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.' 

Ms Cooper signalled the Government is reviewing how international human rights law is applied in the UK in order to prevent it frustrating the deportation of migrants.

The Home Secretary was asked by the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme if she could confirm reports that ministers are reviewing how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights is applied in UK law.

Ms Cooper replied: 'Well, we continue to support international law. That is really important, and it's because we support international law that we've managed to get new agreements with France and Germany.

'There have been some cases that do raise some real significant concerns, and that is also about the way in which the immigration asylum system operates.

'It's about the application, including of Article 8, as the Prime Minister has said, so we are reviewing all of this area to make sure that, really, the immigration asylum system works effectively in the way that Parliament meant it to, and make sure that there is a sort of proper sense of control in the system.'

Earlier this month, the Government signed a roadmap with French authorities that aims to disrupt smuggling gangs and deter migrants from making the journey, as well as making it easier to send migrants out of Britain.

It comes as Labour looks set to backtrack on an election promise to scrap the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

Earlier this week MailOnline reported that an ongoing review of Government spending acknowledged that 'demand for short-term residential accommodation... is likely to remain over the coming years'. 

The Home Office spent £2.3billion on hotels for asylum seekers in 2022/23 due to 'pressures on housing supply' and 'risks presented by global instability'.

The Home Office is considering setting up 'return hubs' in the Balkans for asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected and all options of appeal exhausted to reduce the pressure on Britain.

It would involve payments being made to partner countries for each person removed from the UK.

Similar plans are being looked at in the European Union, with 'return hubs' set up outside the EU. The EUFRA, the bloc's human rights body, said the hubs must not become 'rights-free zones'.

The Government has shifted its focus away from moving migrants out of Britain and onto dismantling the gangs responsible for enabling their journeys.

Labour scrapped the previous Conservative government's controversial plan to fly migrants to Rwanda - which had been beset by legal wranglings and challenges.

It signed agreements with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo in a bid to crack down on the people-smuggling gangs who support asylum seekers' efforts to reach the UK via the English Channel.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) - Britain's FBI - said earlier this month it had been taking down thousands of pages and profiles on social media that targeted would-be migrants on social media.

And advertisements have been distributed in Albania, Vietnam, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) that attempt to dissuade people from making small boat crossings.

The ads distributed in the KRI, for instance, warn of a risk of dying at sea, or being forced into slavery by smugglers.

Another campaign targeted at Albanians, entitled Histori Nga Britania (Stories from Britain), sees Albanian migrants share stories about how life in the UK is not as rosy as it seems via social media.

Black and white images show miserable-looking housing estates covered in graffiti and feature accounts from migrants who lament about the cost of living, and the difficulty in securing a right to remain.

One account notes: 'The moment you come here illegally that's how life will go on is very hard this state won't let you become a legal person no matter how hard you try.'

But an internal Foreign Office assessment of the scheme concluded there was 'limited evidence on the effectiveness' of what it termed a 'dissuasive communications approach'.

Smuggling gangs charging them thousands of pounds to help them reach the UK - offering them discounts if they promote their journey on social media in a twisted form of 'influencing' others to make the trip.

Last month, three people smugglers were jailed for their part in arranging small boat crossings, earnings huge amounts of cash in the process.

Pistiwan Jameel, Artan Halilaj and Fiorentino Halilaj were jailed for a combined 130 months after being convicted of facilitating illegal migration.

Jameel had been recorded by NCA detectives arranging crossings, moaning about competition pushing his prices down, and bragging he had made at least $2million for his criminal partners.

Earlier today we reported on the migrants trying to reach Britain by stowing away in caravans and lorries - costing their owners millions in fines when caught.

Around 5,000 'clandestine entrants' were found last year at UK border controls in Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk, according to a report by the immigration and borders watchdog.

David Bolt noted that the number of detections had fallen dramatically from more than more than 56,000 people in 2016 - before tighter security around ports and the Channel Tunnel prompted people smugglers to change their tactics to favour small boat crossings. 

The Home Office's Clandestine Entrant Civil Penalty Scheme handed out 1,276 fines worth nearly £10million in 2023/24 to drivers who were found with migrants hiding in their vehicles, either in northern France or after crossing into the UK.

(Source: The Daily Mail)