London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Record number of migrants cross Channel in one day

Record number of migrants cross Channel in one day

Priti Patel asylum bill, branded ‘anti-refugee’ by critics, condemned as both cruel and ineffective by critics
Humanitarian groups have warned that Priti Patel’s new asylum legislation will do nothing to address the root causes of dangerous Channel crossings, following a record-breaking day of people arriving in Kent in small boats.

The Home Office said that at least 430 people made the crossing across the Dover Strait on Monday, a new daily record.

In Dungeness, also in Kent, about 50 people, including women and young children, were seen arriving on a beach after crossing the Channel in a single dinghy.

The previous daily high for arrivals was in September when 416 people arrived in the UK from across the Channel.

Patel, the home secretary, pledged to make the crossing “unviable”, but people have continued to make the dangerous journey this summer.

Patel’s flagship asylum legislation, the nationality and borders bill, which had its second reading in the Commons on Monday, has been branded the “anti-refugee bill” by critics.

But refugee charities have said that as well as being cruel the bill would not solve the issue of Channel crossings.

Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said: “The government’s relentless desire to raise the drawbridge without creating more routes to safety leaves desperate refugees with little choice than to put their lives in the hands of people smugglers.

“And the cruel and unworkable anti-refugee bill is pure political theatre that makes no attempt to improve our asylum system or address the root causes of Channel crossings.

“Ministers must throw out this extreme bill and instead design an effective and just asylum system that creates more routes to safety, such as family reunion, and a long-term resettlement programme that welcomes 10,000 refugees a year.”

Beth Gardiner-Smith, the CEO of Safe Passage International, said: “In the last year this government has presided over the closure of nearly all safe routes to the UK for refugees in France and other countries, so it’s no wonder smugglers are exploiting those who are faced with no other option to reach family and safety.

“Now instead of opening safe routes the government plans to rip up refugee rights, and criminalise and punish those seeking protection with their Nationality and Borders bill.

“The government must ditch these inhumane and unworkable plans and open safe routes to save lives. This would prevent Channel crossings and break the business model of smugglers, whilst reuniting separated families and offering hope to child refugees stranded and alone in Europe.”

The bill would make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally, and people could face up to four years in prison. It also includes clauses that would allow the UK to send asylum seekers to a “safe third country”.

Eight boats carrying 241 people arrived in the UK on Saturday, and, to date, nearly 8,000 people have reached the UK this year, according to analysis by the PA Media news agency.

The dinghy that reached Dungeness is believed to have left northern France or Belgium earlier in the day before crossing the 21-mile Dover Strait. It was watched by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution as it approached before landing at about 1pm. The migrants included children who were too young to walk, and some of the people needed help as they walked on to the beach.

Despite the surge in such crossings, the UK continues to see far fewer boat arrivals and asylum claims than many of its European counterparts.

At least 44,230 people have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea so far this year, according to data from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Despite the sharp rise in small boat arrivals on the UK south coast, asylum applications in Britain fell in 2020 to 29,456. This was significantly lower than the 93,475 asylum applications made in France and the 121,955 in Germany.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
×