The number of Channel small boat migrants to have reached Britain since Labour came to power is thought to have reached 30,000.
There were scores of arrivals in Dover on Friday morning after UK Border Force vessels intercepted dinghies in the middle of the English Channel.
Official Home Office figures show that up to Thursday there had been 29,884 arrivals since the General Election on July 4 last year.
Observers said yesterday’s arrivals numbered just over 150 aboard four dinghies, which would push Labour’s total past the landmark of 30,000.
The number of crossings in the equivalent period from July 2023 to April 2024 – when the Tories were still in power – was 23,439.
It means Labour has overseen a 28 per cent leap in arrivals.
One of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts in office was scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda asylum scheme, which had been designed to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in the first place.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Keir Starmer has betrayed the British public by losing control of our borders.
‘His pledge to “smash the gangs” lies in tatters.
‘He cancelled the Rwanda deterrent before it even started, with no plan in place, and now illegal immigrants are flooding into the country.’
Mr Philp added: ‘Starmer needs to develop a backbone and immediately implement a removals deterrent.
‘It’s the only way we can stop these boats.
‘This total loss of border control is catastrophic for our country.
‘Starmer should hang his head in shame.’
UK Border Force vessels brought scores of people to the port of Dover this morning aboard its catamarans BF Typhoon and BF Hurricane.
It came after a week-long hiatus which saw no arrivals due to 30mph gusts in the Channel.
After cancelling the Rwanda programme the Government has placed an emphasis on law enforcement measures against the human trafficking gangs.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also dedicated more resources to removing foreign nationals who do not have the right to be in the UK, including foreign national offenders.
Since the start of this year 6,642 migrants have reached Britain by small boat, not including Friday’s unconfirmed number.
It is 22 per cent higher than the 5,435 who came here in the same period last year.
Official data published in February showed asylum claims have surged under Labour to hit more than 108,000 last year – the highest number since records began in 1979.
The biggest increase came in the second half of 2024 – following the general election – when more than 61,383 asylum bids were lodged, compared with 50,352 during the same period in 2023.
The annual total – an 18 per cent year-on-year rise – smashed the previous record set during the early 2000s asylum crisis by five per cent.
Asylum claims are made not just by new arrivals but also by foreign nationals who may have been in Britain for years.
A Labour source said: ‘Under the last Conservative government 128,000 people crossed the Channel.
‘The worst day, worst week, worst month and worst year of small boat crossings all took place when they were in charge and the Rwanda scheme was in place.
‘Most appalling of all, more than 30,000 people arrived in just 20 weeks between Boris Johnson winning his no-confidence vote in June 2022 and Jeremy Hunt presenting his Emergency Budget that November, because the Tories were too busy fighting amongst themselves and crashing the economy to worry about protecting our borders.
‘That was the disastrous record they left behind, and we will take no lectures from them now.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
‘The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
‘That’s why this government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.’