More than 400 migrants currently crossing Channel to UK

More than 400 migrants are feared to be crossing the Channel trying to reach Britain. Border Force is scrambling to intercept as many as seven dinghies launched by smugglers on Tuesday morning, GB News has reported.

If all of the asylum seekers were to reach British waters, it would take the annual total to 11,000 - less than 24 hours after it surged past 10,000. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper blamed the weather for the record number of small boat arrivals this year. As many as 450 migrants are feared to have arrived on small boats on Monday, leaving the Prime Minister's "smash the gangs" pledge in tatters.

It comes after 247 migrants arrived on five boats on Sunday.

Asked whether she thought she was doing a good job of stopping crossings, Ms Cooper told Times Radio: "The boats are high and this is undermining border security, it's putting lives at risk.

"It's why it's so essential to take action on the criminal gangs that are underpinning this vile trade in people.

"They have been taking advantage of the much higher number of calm weather days."

Confirmation of whether the total number of arrivals has surged past 10,000 will come when the Home Office's publishes the figures for Monday's crossings on Tuesday.

It would be the earliest point in a calendar year that this milestone has been reached.

Last year, the figure of 10,000 was not hit until May 24, while in 2023 it was hit on June 17.

The current cumulative total for 2025, 9,885, is up 38% on the number recorded at this point last year (7,167) and 72% higher than the same point in 2023 (5,745), according to analysis of Home Office figures.

The Home Secretary said the UK has "persuaded the French government to change their rules" so that police can intercept boats in the water.

Asked about the number of crossings, she told BBC Breakfast that gangs have been launching boats "further up the coast, and then people climb onto the boats, migrants climb onto the boats in shallow waters, knowing that the French rules for very many years have meant the French police could not and would not intervene as soon as they were actually in the water."

She added: "We've now persuaded the French government to change their rules, to change their laws effectively, so that the French police can intervene with those boats and prevent people getting on them."

Ms Cooper said that the changes would come in "over the next few months".