There have been two ‘uncontrolled’ landings of migrants boats on the UK’s shores this week.
Migrants crossing English Channel to reach UK via small boat (Image: Getty)
A Cabinet Minister has suggested that not every migrant boat can be intercepted, after two uncontrolled landings from the Channel in two days. Education Secretary Lucy Powell branded the situation “not acceptable” but insisted there was an “improving picture”.
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Labour have admitted they will never stop the boats.
“Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was always a farce, and open-borders Burnham has learnt absolutely nothing from his predecessor.
“The only way to stop the crossings is to deport all illegal immigrants on arrival.”
When she was asked if the boats reaching the UK was embarrassing, the Cabinet minister responded: “(You) can’t stop everything all of the time. “Of course, it’s a concern. That’s why the Home Secretary has demanded and ordered this urgent review because this is not what we want to see. This is not acceptable.
“But the overall picture is an improving picture. It is hard, difficult work that requires constant, constant effort by our border forces, our security services, police, our partnerships with France and other countries. This is a mammoth and huge task, which is now starting to reap some dividends. But of course, you know where there are still issues arising, we must absolutely tackle them.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood already branded the failure to intercept two migrant boats in two days before they reached the Kent coast as “not acceptable”.
The Home Secretary, who has ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command, said “even one” uncontrolled landing is “one too many”.
Twenty-one people were detained after a boat arrived on the beach of Samphire Hoe, Dover, on Tuesday afternoon.
It came after a dinghy made it to shore at Folkestone on Monday morning – the first undetected landing for a year.
Speaking on Thursday morning, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour has lost control of our borders A radically different approach is needed We need to leave the ECHR so anyone entering Britain illegally can be rapidly deported No hotels. No benefits. No lengthy court process. No asylum claim. Just rapid removal. Then the crossings will soon stop.”
The thousands of migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats.
Before Monday, no small boat arrivals to the UK coast without an escort had been officially recorded since September 6 2025.
Uncontrolled landings are so rare that last year’s incident was the only other one recorded since the Home Office began keeping data in 2023.
Andy Burnham savaged as one in five UK working age adults now on benefits
Critics warn it is “unfair to taxpayers footing the bill” and Britain “can’t afford” it.
Andy Burnham is under pressure to get a grip on the benefits bill. (Image: Getty)
One in five working-age Brits is on universal credit, according to new research. Some 7.3 million people aged between 20 and 64 in England and Wales were receiving the benefit as of May 2026, the analysis by the Taxpayers’ Alliance found.
That includes 3.3 million under 40, with 1.3 million in their 20s. The research showed that 54 council areas have a quarter of the working-age population on benefits, which are for people who are jobless or on a low income to help with living costs.
William Yarwood, campaigns director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “In some places, dependency on universal credit has become endemic.
“Generations are being dumped on benefits: written off and condemned to a life of dependency as ministers make it harder for them to find a job.
“If Andy Burnham was serious about growth in every postcode, he would be making it more affordable to hire young people.”
Councils with the highest proportion of older people on universal credit are concentrated in London, including more than half of those in their 50s and 60s in Tower Hamlets.
Coastal towns such as Thanet, Great Yarmouth and Hartlepool tend to have more younger people on benefits.
Blackpool was the local authority with the largest share of the working-age population claiming universal credit at 35.2%.
Tory shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately warned it is “unfair to taxpayers footing the bill” and that Britain “can’t afford” it.
She added: “I’ve been to benefit hotspots like Blackpool, where welfare has become a way of life. This has to stop. A generation of talent is also being wasted when young people sign up for welfare instead of starting work.
“It’s clear Andy Burnham — like his predecessor — does not have the backbone to reform welfare. He said himself he puts social security before national security.”
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Three-quarters of the increase in Universal Credit cases since July 2024 is driven by people moving from legacy benefits – a transition started by the previous Government.
“Many people receiving Universal Credit are already in employment, and our reforms will go further to tackle the perverse incentives that discourage work, and we’re investing £3.5 billion in employment support for disabled people and people with long-term conditions.
“We’re putting work and opportunity at the heart of the system, and the final recommendations from the Timms and Milburn Reviews will lay the foundation for sustainable reform.”