Migrant ‘mega dinghy’ brings record 107 people across Channel to Britain

People-smugglers use bigger boat as number crossing since Labour came to power passes 50,000

A “mega dinghy” has brought a record 107 migrants across the Channel to Britain.

The boat arrived in the UK in the early hours of Wednesday, carrying the largest number of illegal migrants to have reached the country in a single vessel from France.

The average small boat that reached Britain in July was carrying 60 migrants.

Arrivals are at record levels, with the number of migrants to have crossed the Channel since Labour came to power just over a year ago passing 50,000 this week.

In a further blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s attempt to stop the boats, 50 per cent more migrants have crossed year-on-year since he agreed his “one in, one out” deal with France.

The use of a bigger boat by people-smuggling gangs is likely to fuel concerns that the crisis will worsen further still. The previous biggest vessel transported 96 migrants to the UK.

A maritime security source told GB News, which first reported the arrival of the dinghy, that the size of the boat was “highly alarming”.

“It looks like the smuggling gangs have specified larger boats, which we know are designed and built in backstreet factories in China,” said the source. 

“Bigger boats mean bigger numbers of arrivals, at a time when we’re already seeing record numbers crossing from France.

“If we are witnessing the advent of a new, larger migrant boat, this is the worst possible news for those attempting to smash the gangs.”

A Labour minister this week claimed that the record number of Channel crossings this year was not the party’s fault.

Baroness Smith of Malvern, the skills minister, said: “This is a problem that, up to this point, we haven’t managed to tackle in terms of the numbers who are coming here.

“But it is a completely legitimate claim to say that that is because what is happening is the result of the last government that chose to focus on gimmicks with the Rwanda scheme that returned four volunteers.”

At the end of July, the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats passed the 25,000 mark at the earliest point in a year since the crisis began.

The same threshold was not crossed until Sept 22 last year and Oct 2 in 2023, in a further sign of Sir Keir’s struggle to fulfil his promise to “smash the gangs”.

The Rwanda deportation scheme established by the previous Conservative government was cancelled by Sir Keir and Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, on Labour’s first day in power.

Labour has continued to insist that the scheme was a “gimmick”, which would not have succeeded in stopping the boats even had it not been frustrated by legal challenges.

But there has been intense criticism of the Government’s deal with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, amid analysis suggesting it is closer to “17 in, one out” than the “one in, out one” deal heralded by both leaders.

A Home Office spokesman pointed to enhanced intelligence sharing under the Government’s Border Security Command as well as tougher legislation signed into law by Sir Keir.

The spokesman added: “We are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.”