Second migrant mega boat spotted heads for UK | UK | News
A second mega migrant boat was reportedly spotted trying to cross the Channel this month, just weeks after another full boat carrying a record-breaking 128 asylum seekers arrived in the UK in one go. The super-sized crossings appear to be favored by people smugglers trying to evade increased French security along the northern French coast.
So far this year, more than 11,800 migrants have made the perilous crossing in small boats; In the same period in 2025, this number was 19,000.
Great Britain News reports The first migrants were escorted to the Port of Dover this morning by a Border Force ship. It was learned that there were more than 100 people on the boat.
Rob Bates, of the Center for Immigration Control, told the broadcaster: “Andy Burnham walked into Downing Street with no plan to curb illegal immigration.
“This is a man who has previously called for Channel migrants to be given the right to work and suggested they have access to social housing, which is a huge pull factor to encourage more young men to make the transition.
“The new Prime Minister has a soft touch on the most important problem facing the country and it is almost inevitable that the crisis will worsen under his watch.”
By the end of 2025, 46,497 illegal entries into the UK were detected, 89% of which were via the Channel on boats launched from the coasts of our European neighbours, primarily France, although figures for the first half of this year have fallen.
In April, Labor agreed to pay France £662 million (about €767) under a three-year funding package from 2026 to 2029; This package was supposed to help “strengthen existing controls” in northern France and “finance new tactics” to stop the boats. A new French riot police unit, the Compagnie républicaine de sécurité (CRS), consisting of around 50 specially trained police officers, has been deployed to prevent known violent asylum seekers from trying to cross the border.
Drones and helicopters are now being used to monitor beaches, and an additional 30 maritime officers and a new ship have been launched to combat the ‘taxi boats’ used by smugglers to take migrants to larger ships for passage. A Home Office spokesman told the Daily Express there was now “a 40% increase in the number of law enforcement, intelligence and military officers to track and stop illegal immigrants boarding boats”.
