EXCLUSIVE: Newly-appointed borders minister Anna Turley told the Mirror she was horrified when a record 230 people reached the UK in a single boat - but admitted Brexit has made fixing the problem harder22:30, 11 Aug 2026Labour's border security chief has said the Channel migrant crisis must be fixed "once and for all" after a huge mega dinghy carried 230 people to the UK - as Andy Burnham said he would keep going until crossings stop.‌Anna Turley voiced her horror after a 15-metre boat transported the record number of asylum seekers from France on Sunday. The newly-appointed Home Office minister said Britain was working with intelligence services from around the world to smash smuggling gangs - but admitted Brexit is making it harder.‌Ms Turley told The Mirror that mega dinghies landing on UK shores must not become the norm. She said: "I won't accept that. We cannot become used to seeing that. That cannot be the norm."‌There is growing alarm about the size of the larger dinghies making the perilous journey, with at least 13 people believed to have died so far this year alone. Last week a boat carrying 173 people capsized after catching fire, sparking a rescue operation in the Channel.Ms Turley said: "We've already had a fire last week in a huge vessel, and I'm really concerned that we're going to see a really serious incident. Not a single boat, if I had my way, would be leaving French soil to make its way to the UK. We've got to end this once and for all."‌Asked if the record-breaking crossing on Sunday night was a turning point, she said: "That was horrifying. We've seen a couple of those large boats in the last couple of weeks, and that's just not acceptable."It shows the lengths that these people will go to and the risks to human life that they will do to push people into these boats and get them across the Channel, and the levels of exploitation that they are undertaking."It came as Andy Burnham said the government "will keep going at this issue" until small boat crossings are stopped. He told GB News: "People will say to me, 'we don't want any crossings'. I understand that concern.‌"There are further things that we are doing and we will keep going at this issue until we deliver that eradication that people are looking for." But pressed on whether he could promise small boat crossings would end by the next general election he said: "It would be wrong, I think, for me to make a prediction now based on a timeline."Arrivals have dropped by more than 40% compared to last year, and earlier this month were at their lowest level since 2021. Ms Turley pointed to successes denting the supply of small boat parts in recent months. This has included a haul of 25 boats on their way to Germany from China capable of transporting over 2,000 people last month.‌She said: "While I'm pleased we've made huge progress and huge strides, we've been working at pace across the world, right from the supply of where these boats are coming from to where they're being assembled, to where they're getting onto the French shores."We're working with intelligence across the world to tackle that supply. We're smashing the gangs, we've had great success in doing that."Britain has long pushed for access to key European intelligence databases like the Schengen Information System and Eurodac, which it cannot access since leaving the EU. Asked how much she wanted access to more European-held intelligence, Ms Turley said: "I think it's really important. One of the things my first two-and-a-half weeks has taught me is just how important international cooperation is.‌"We can't solve the boats problem without working with the French, we can't do this without tracking the gangs that are crossing multiple countries' boundaries. So, we have to work together with our European partners and others."So, using that data, using that intelligence, sharing that is critical." Pressed on whether Brexit had made it more difficult to tackle small boat crossings, Ms Turley said: "The facts are clear that immigration has quadrupled since, you know, since Brexit. That is a challenge that we face, we're now outside the Dublin Convention (which allowed Britain to return migrants to countries they had passed through). These things do make things more difficult."‌It comes as the government today announces that a further 13 asylum hotels will close, bringing the number in operation down to below 160. Ms Turley insisted it is realistic to get the remainder closed by 2029 - pointing out there were over 400 in operation under the Tories.Standing outside the Metropole Hotel in Blackpool - one of the latest to be shut and returned to its operators after housing hundreds of migrants - the minister said her department's focus is on moving people to large sites such as military bases.She said: "The priority is large sites, and those former military bases are important because we can contain people in one place for their safety, for their security.‌"We can provide services at a much cheaper cost, and it relieves the pressure on local communities and results in fewer sort of flashpoints than we've seen with situations like hotels."Ms Turley stated: "Under the Tories in 2023 there were 400 asylum hotels in use. We're now down to less than 160. So, we're working through them at pace."And it's such an important day today because a hotel like the Metropole behind me here in Blackpool is so iconic. And it's the message it sends to the people of Blackpool that we care about your community, we care about this town. We want this town to flourish.‌"And we want hotels like this to be where people come and spend their weekends, spend their money in the town, go up the tower, see the illuminations, and and help get this town back on its feet and be a brilliant, thriving seaside town."Asked whether it is realistic that the remainder can close within three years, Ms Turley said: "Definitely. We're already making huge progress. I think, you know, we're over half now, so we are well on our way."‌Last week The Mirror followed migrants, including mums and babies, making the dangerous journey from France to the UK. We saw French police, including armed gendarmes, follow the group throughout a four-hour journey to the coastline, including walking with them into a forest, but making no attempt to stop them.Ms Turley voiced her frustration, stating: "The reality is, of course there's more that can be done. Not every French officer has the same legal powers as others do, so often people, when they see a French officer standing by, they literally don't have the powers to intervene, but other specialised trained officers do."Our priority is to make sure those officers know where these gangs are, they are able, they have the powers and the resources to intervene. And as we're seeing now, the stretch of of space along the French coast that they are now using is a sign that we are having an effect, but it's dispersing.‌"We've got to make sure that, working with the French, we're flexible, we're finding out where they are, and we're making sure that this is not kind of stretching across across the the entirety of the coast."A National Crime Agency spokesperson said: “People smuggling gangs are constantly trying to adapt and we are working internationally to tackle their business models, end-to-end.Article continues below"We are proactively targeting and degrading the supply chain of boats and engines, the social media they use to advertise crossings, their finances, and the controlling minds coordinating the crossings, in the fight against organised immigration crime.“The ability of facilitators to bring engines, migrants and boats together simultaneously has been degraded. What has not changed is the callous disregard that people smugglers have for human life, and their willingness to employ substandard and dangerous equipment for these illegal crossings.”