It comes as France pledged to ramp up efforts to stop the crossings by intercepting small boats at sea for the first time, provided they are not carrying migrants.
Until now, the French have agreed only to block boats and migrants attempting to leave on the beaches. That led to people smugglers using “taxi boats”, which travel along the coast before stopping in shallow waters to pick up asylum seekers trying to cross the Channel.
France’s change in policy came after Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, wrote to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, urging him to back the plan.
In his letter, Sir Keir admitted for the first time that Britain was failing to deter crossings, saying: “It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month … We have no effective deterrent in the Channel.”
On Saturday, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “The calmer weather at sea for the first time in a few weeks has enabled a flood of illegal immigrants to cross the channel in a single day. We know that these are mostly young men and many are from nationalities disproportionately likely to commit crimes, including sex offences against women and girls.
“The Prime Minister admitted recently in a letter to President Macron that the UK has no deterrent against these crossings – and the hundreds of illegal immigrants crossing on Saturday is the result.
“Labour should never have cancelled the Rwanda removals deterrent with no replacement. We must now leave the ECHR to enable all illegal immigrants to be deported within a week of arrival. Then the crossings would quickly stop. But Labour is too weak to do that.”
