UK Sees Biggest-Ever Migrant Arrival As Boats Get Bigger

By Ellen Milligan, Alex Wickham and Lucy White

Sep 28, 2025 (Bloomberg) –The UK saw the largest number of migrants arrive on a single vessel this weekend, highlighting how the crisis is deteriorating despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash” the smuggling gangs ferrying people across the English Channel. 

A boat carrying 125 people crossed to England from France on Saturday, the Home Office confirmed to Bloomberg. The incident broke a previous record from August when 107 people crossed in what was described at the time by UK media as a “mega-dinghy” and comes just weeks after Bloomberg reported the first unescorted beach landing of a migrant boat in almost three years.

“These small boats crossings are utterly unacceptable and the vile people-smugglers behind them are wreaking havoc on our borders,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement. “Protecting the UK border is my priority as home secretary and I will explore all options to restore order to our immigration system.”

The unwanted record comes on a weekend Starmer is seeking to turn around his Labour Party’s flagging fortunes at its annual conference in Liverpool. It draws attention to an issue the premier is desperate to get a handle on in order to blunt the rise of Nigel Farage, the anti-immigration populist who leads the poll-leading Reform UK Party. 

Total numbers of crossings so far this year are already at record levels despite recent agreements Starmer has put in place, including a returns deal with France. Some 895 people crossed the channel in 12 so-called small boats on Saturday. 

Two women died off the coast of Northern France while attempting the crossing on the same day,French officials told Agence France-Presse. A couple and their child suffering from moderate hypothermia were also rushed to hospital, the agency reported.

With the party being out-flanked by Reform, Labour is under pressure to be seen as tough on immigration. The huge rise in legal migration under the last Conservative government, combined with Labour’s inability to bring down the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats, has propelled migration to the top of the political agenda, and it’s regularly cited ahead of the state of the economy in voter surveys of the most important issues affecting the country. 

Starmer stepped up his criticism of Farage in an interview with the BBC on Sunday, calling the right-wing populist’s signature immigration policies racist and immoral. Even US President Donald Trump has sought to advise him on how to tackle the crisis, including suggesting he deploys the military in a mirror of his own policies in America. 

Reas Also: The Harsh Reality of US Coast Guard Migrant Policy

One proposal being considered by the Home Office is to intercept small boats in French waters and return them to France. The plan, which would need the permission of the French government, would see the British Border Force block vessels from entering British seas while still in French waters before transporting them back to mainland Europe.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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