Keir Starmer’s overseen just 150 people-smuggler prosecutions since coming to power, damning new data shows

The offence, which is identified under Section 25 of the Immigration Act 1971 and carries a maximum life sentence, fluctuated between a low of 274 in 2019/20 and a high of 471 in 2023.

However, a total of 446 people were charged with an immigration offence between July 2024 and June 2025, accounting for just one per cent of the number of Channel crossings over the same period.

At least one person on each boat is liable for prosecution for the offence of assisting unlawful entry into the UK, with all migrants who arrive in small boats also being in breach of the law under the 2022 National & Borders Act.

Earlier this month, GB News revealed that Channel crossings under Starmer had surged by 40 per cent compared to Rishi Sunak’s final 365 days in No10.

However, the new data regarding prosecutions led to condemnation from Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick.

He said: “Keir Starmer boasted he would smash the gangs, but the gangs are laughing at him. They’ve never had it easier, and crossings are up 50 per cent as a result. We’re now heading towards being the illegal immigration capital of Europe.

“It’s clear Starmer is incapable of stopping the boats and his backbenchers don’t want him to. The country cannot go on like this – the situation in the Channel is a national security emergency.

“Those that arrive illegally from the safety of France must be swiftly deported so the message is clear: if you break into Britain, you will not get a life here.”

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People thought to be migrants scramble to board a small boat near Wimereux in France

However, Starmer’s Government is taking a tougher stance on people smuggling, vowing to enact sanctions on corrupt police officers, fake passport dealers and firms supplying small boats.

The proposal, outlined by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, was decried by experts as “far-fetched” despite being part of the Prime Minister’s wider plan to “smash the gangs”.

The People’s Channel also understands that Home Office insiders believe the recently released Tory data has been miscounted.

Jenrick was accused of “confusing” so-called “umbrella categories” in the Ministry of Justice offence outcomes data tool for “other assisting illegal entry” for the particular offence identified under Section 25.

Directly attacking Jenrick, a Labour spokesman added: “Robert Jenrick can reinvent himself as many times as he likes, but he cannot rewrite history.

“With Labour in office, more people were charged with assisting unlawful immigration in our first year in government than in the entire time that Jenrick was in charge of the immigration system.

“Indeed, we charged more people with that offence in our first three months than he managed in his last six.

“If he was truly serious about prosecuting dangerous people-smugglers, he would not have voted against our new law to criminalise people who endanger the lives of others in the Channel, and would instead be supporting us to take that action against those who cause women and children to suffocate and drown on overcrowded small boats.”

However, Jenrick has also warned that new Sentencing Council guidelines, outlined by his opposite number Shabana Mahmood, will water down punishments handed out for immigration offences.

New reforms will instead mean that criminals will be able to get their prison sentences cut by 40 per cent if they plead guilty, up from one third under the existing system.

The changes come alongside Labour’s reforms which allow criminals to serve just one-third of their sentences before being released, meaning someone serving 10 years behind bars could be released after just two.

Concerns about illegal migration have reached new highs in recent weeks following protests outside an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex.

Hundreds of protesters have descended on the area, with both Essex Police & Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst and Epping Forest District Council urging the Home Office to shut down area.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage even demanded Essex Police’s Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington resigns over allegations that officers provided an escort for counter-demonstrators to arrive at the scene.

However, Harrington denied the suggestion that officers had “bussed” counter-protesters to the hotel and instead confirmed that they had been given a “foot cordon”.

Essex Police has now arrested 16 protesters over the disorder seen in Epping.