Amber Rudd tells Government to 'get a grip' as record 1,194 Migrants cross channel in one day
Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd has claimed the Government needs to "get a grip" of the UK’s borders after a record number of asylum seekers made the crossing from France on Saturday.
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The Home Office confirmed that 1,194 asylum seekers reached the UK in 18 small boats on Saturday—the highest daily total so far in 2025.
Discussing the figures with LBC's Andrew Marr, Ms Rudd called on current Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to use stronger deterrents and better intelligence to tackle the people-smuggling gangs.
"We have to have some sort of deterrent, and we have to have some sort of better intelligence working throughout Europe and beyond," the former minister said.
"Before this exploded, when it was sort of 300 [asylum seekers], that is negligible compared to the thousand a day. Now, it was already a business—a really nasty trafficking business of people and smuggling—but it was a small business. Now it is big, big business."
The Government is currently exploring a potential “return hub” to process failed asylum seekers in Balkan states such as Kosovo—an idea Ms Rudd supports.
Read more: Seventeen Greek coastguards charged over deadly migrant shipwreck
However, the ex-Tory MP stressed that Britain must also work with French and European allies to stop people smugglers from reaching the Channel in the first place.
"However many police we invest in, we have to work with the French and with our European allies to stop that big trek," she said.
"And we have to have some sort of deterrent. Keir Starmer's obviously working on that. There has to be some sort of deterrence for people who get here."
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described Saturday's crossings as a "day of shame" for Labour, claiming maritime rescue services were “overwhelmed”—with British and French authorities forced to deploy 11 vessels and two aircraft.
Demand was so high that the coastguard issued an urgent appeal for the help of fishing boats.
The previous record for 2025 had been 825.
Ms Cooper suggested the number of crossings has surged because of the higher number of good weather “red days” so far this year.
The latest crossings mean the total number of migrants who’ve crossed the Channel this year has risen to more than 14,600—up 30% on the same point last year and the highest total for the first five months of a year since 2018.
The record for the highest number of Channel crossings in a single day remains 1,305, recorded on September 3, 2022.
Mr Philp said: “This is a day of shame for the Labour Government. Over 1,000 illegal immigrants in a single day, boats flooding the Channel, Border Force stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed.
"A nation reduced to chaos on the high seas while Keir Starmer hides behind platitudes and process. Labour has completely lost control of our borders.
"Their pledge to smash gangs is in tatters. They scrapped the Rwanda deterrent before it even began, and now the boats won’t stop coming. So far, this is already the worst year on record. Labour have failed on every front, and they should hang their heads in shame.”