More than 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK in small boats on Saturday – just as new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was ordered to ‘go up a gear’ to stop them.
On her first day she was confronted with the second highest number of illegal migrants to enter the country this year in a 24-hour period.
The surge of 1,097 small-boat migrants tipped the total for 2025 to more than 30,000 in record time – and is 37 per cent up on the same date last year. Ms Mahmood said it was ‘utterly unacceptable’, and is expected to order the transfer of migrants from hotels to army barracks. She will also consider changing human rights laws to make it easier to reject and deport asylum claimants.
Ms Mahmood said on Sunday that a deal with France to return illegal migrants would begin soon, adding: ‘These small-boats crossings are utterly unacceptable and the vile people-smugglers behind them are wreaking havoc on our borders.
‘Thanks to our deal with France, people crossing in small boats can now be detained and removed to France, and I expect the first returns to take place imminently.
