No switch to stop small boats, Labour says

Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell told BBC local radio that there is no 'switch' to stop small boat crossings, and not every migrant boat can be intercepted.

She spoke to presenters from BBC local radio ahead of the party's annual conference.

This has been a mammoth task across a whole range of different policy areas over the last couple of years, which is now starting to bear fruit, in that small boat crossings are significantly down this year - in fact significantly lower than at any time in the last six years.

Obviously as we close down some avenues and we close down routes criminal gangs look to find new ways to deliver their terrible business model.

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.

On Wednesday British rescue boats were sent to collect a group of migrants who had spent more than 33 hours at sea

Powell told BBC Kent: 'It's not easy, if we had a switch that we could switch tomorrow to stop all small boats, we would switch it'. Conservative ResponseLabour's Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said on X: '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.

Liberal Democrat Response

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, Max Wilkinson MP, said closer cooperation with the EU was key to tacking small boat crossings.