UK ministers have announced an extra £100 million in funding to bolster efforts to stop small boat crossings in the English Channel as part of a broader push to tackle irregular migration. The funding will support new enforcement measures, including up to 300 additional National Crime Agency (NCA) officers, along with upgraded surveillance equipment and technology to target people-smuggling gangs.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the investment would support new intelligence-led operations and complement the recent one in, one out returns agreement with France. Under this deal, the UK will be able to return certain asylum seekers to France in exchange for individuals with family or other links to the UK.
“This additional funding will turbo-charge our law enforcement agencies’ ability to track and dismantle smuggling networks, working with international partners and using cutting-edge technology,” Cooper said. “It is part of our broader plan to protect the UK’s border and restore order to the immigration system.”
The returns agreement, however, has drawn criticism for its limited scope. Critics argue that with an estimated exchange cap of only 50 people per week, the plan may lack the scale needed to serve as a meaningful deterrent.
The funding pledge comes amid record Channel crossings in 2025. More than 25,000 people have arrived by small boat so far this year, marking the highest figure ever recorded by this point in the calendar year.
Meanwhile, protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers have escalated. In Islington, north London, nine people were arrested on Saturday following confrontations between opposing groups outside the Thistle City Barbican hotel. The following day, more than 100 protesters gathered outside the Britannia International hotel in Canary Wharf, responding to reports that asylum seekers had been brought in overnight. Social media footage appeared to show men arriving by the coach in the early hours.
Chants of sending them home were heard, and flares were set off. The Metropolitan Police said officers intervened as protesters attempted to breach fences and prevent deliveries. One man was arrested for allegedly assaulting an emergency worker after an officer was pushed.
Fresh demonstrations also took place outside a hotel in Epping, Essex, following the arrest of an Ethiopian asylum seeker charged with a sexual offence.
In response to growing tensions, the Home Office said it would introduce a new criminal offence for advertising illegal small boat crossings. While facilitating irregular immigration is already a crime, officials say the new offence—part of the Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill would allow police to crack down more effectively on the promotion of cross criminal gangs.
Separately, Cooper announced a fast-track asylum processing scheme aimed at reducing the backlog. Tens of thousands of people are currently waiting more than a year for an initial decision on their claims. Official figures show that over 70% of applicants are eventually granted protection.
Opposition parties were quick to criticise the Labour government’s announcements. Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch called the new funding package a desperate grab for headlines and urged Labour to revive the previous government’s abandoned £700 million plan to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda.
“What we need is a third-country deterrent so that people can be processed elsewhere,” she said during an interview on Sky News, also calling for the closure of the Epping hotel.
Meanwhile, research by the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (Compas) has revealed that the UK spent £20 billion on migration-related schemes over the past decade much of it on emergency accommodation for asylum seekers. Researchers argued that only small amounts had gone toward long-term integration and community cohesion.
“There has been very high overspending on hotels, but limited investment in initiatives that foster community support and cohesion,” said Compas senior researcher Jacqueline Broadhead. “This is an opportunity for the government to rebalance its approach.”
With a new immigration bill advancing through Parliament and protests continuing nationwide, the government’s ability to manage border pressures and public sentiment remains under intense scrutiny.
