Scores of migrants have been pictured sprinting across a beach in northern France to board UK-bound dinghies – undeterred by Shabana Mahmood’s woeful new asylum reforms.
The migrants were seen running through the tide at Gravelines beach, east of Calais, this morning.
Many of the migrants were young men, who bolted through the surf to secure a place on dangerously-overloaded inflatables.
It came less than a day since the Home Secretary announced immediate changes to the asylum system that she vowed would ‘reduce the incentives that draw people here at such scale’.
Her reforms, which she described as ‘firm but fair’, will give successful asylum seekers permission to stay in Britain for 30 months and they will then have to re-apply or return home.
Critics immediately pointed out that the changes would have little effect on how long asylum seekers get to stay in the country.
As currently, migrants will be able to mount human rights challenges to defeat any attempts to deport them at the end of the 30-month period.
At least one boatload has already been picked up mid-Channel by UK Border Force vessels and ferried into Ramsgate, with more on the way.
Migrants sprint across Gravelines beach in northern France this morning to board a UK-bound smugglers’ dinghy
A man runs through the surf at Gravelines beach this morning
Migrants rushed to board a dangerously-overloaded inflatable dinghy
The first Border Force catamaran, Ranger, arrived at the Kent port at about 2pm, followed by another vessel, Hurricane.
A third Border Force ship, Defender, was also engaged mid-Channel, suggesting the final total number of arrivals could run to hundreds.
Before Ms Mahmood’s announcement on Monday, migrants granted refugee status were given leave to stay here for five years and could then apply for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ (ILR) and, a year later, then apply for citizenship.
The Home Secretary said anyone granted humanitarian leave to remain in Britain for 30 months would be ‘expected’ to leave the country at the end of the period if it is safe to return to their home country.
The Home Office said those who refuse to leave voluntarily would face enforced deportation, but was unable to explain how current low levels of asylum removals would be increased.
So far, the Home Office has only removed about five per cent of the 195,000 small boat migrants who have arrived since the Channel crisis began in 2018.
Critics said the changes would be undermined by legal challenges under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said yesterday: ‘These asylum changes will make no difference so long as Britain is in the ECHR.
‘Illegal immigrants will continue to flood into the UK and making them re-apply for asylum every few years will not stop that.
‘If they can’t get their asylum claim renewed by the Home Office they will just make a human rights claim or a modern slavery claim.
‘The only way this will stop is to exit the ECHR and then deport illegal immigrants within a week of them arriving here, but Shabana Mahmood is too weak to do that.’
Ms Mahmood insisted: ‘This country will always provide sanctuary to those fleeing war and persecution.
‘But we must also ensure our asylum system is not creating pull factors that draw people on dangerous journeys across the world, fuelling and funding the human traffickers.
‘Genuine refugees will find safety in Britain, but we must also reduce the incentives that draw people here at such scale, including those without a legitimate need for protection.
‘So, once a refugee’s home is safe and they are able to return, they will be expected to do so.’
One man made a ‘peace’ symbol and another waved as they were photographed aboard the crowded dinghy off the French beach
Migrants run across Gravelines beach in France this morning
Migrants were later pictured disembarking from Border Force catamaran, Ranger, at Ramsgate port in Kent
Figures published last week showed the number of people granted asylum by the Home Office soared by more than a third last year.
Official figures showed nearly 55,000 migrants were handed refugee status or another type of permission to stay in Britain in the year to December.
It was up 35 per cent on the previous 12 months but 14 per cent below the peak seen in 2023.
Eritreans made up the largest group with just under 8,700 successful asylum claims, followed by Sudanese with 7,000 and Iranians with 6,900.
The figures only cover those granted asylum by the Home Office at the initial decision stage, and do not include those who successfully appeal against a refusal in the immigration courts which had a backlog of 70,000 cases at the last count.
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There were 46,497 illegal arrivals into the country in 2025, a seven per cent year-on-year rise.
It included 41,472 by small boat across the Channel, up 13 per cent, with the rest coming by ‘clandestine’ routes such as stowing away in the backs of lorries.
Statistics also showed the total number of asylum claims lodged in the year was 101,000, a four per cent fall on the previous year but still at a near-record level.
The total included a massive surge in the number of claims from African nationals.
The largest surge was among Somalis, with 4,777 asylum claims – a 255 per cent increase on the previous year.
Other nationalities with large jumps included Ethiopians (2,096 claims, up 123 per cent), Eritreans (8,948, up 83 per cent) and Sudanese (5,869, up 25 per cent).
More than 31,000 migrants were still being housed in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense at the end of December, the latest data showed.
Just under 73,000 were in other types of accommodation such as self-catering properties, up two per cent.
Only 2,550 small boat migrants were deported during the year.
One of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts as Prime Minister was to scrap the previous government’s Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter crossings and save lives by removing Channel migrants to east Africa.
Giving evidence to MPs last month Ms Mahmood admitted Labour’s flagship small boats scheme – the ‘one in, one out’ deal with France – has ‘obviously not dented the numbers yet’.
She said 367 migrants have been brought into the UK under the reciprocal terms of the treaty and only 305 have been removed.
