Not every migrant boat can be intercepted, a Cabinet minister has said, after two uncontrolled landings from the Channel in two days.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said “(you) can’t stop everything all of the time”, the day after 21 people were detained when a boat evaded Border Force to reach the beach of Samphire Hoe in Dover.
It was the second undetected landing in two days, following a dinghy making it to shore at Folkestone on Monday morning.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command, said the failure to intercept the two boats was “not acceptable”.
Ms Powell echoed that language on Thursday, while suggesting not all crossings could be prevented.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if the situation was embarrassing for the Government, she responded: “(You) can’t stop everything all of the time.
“Of course, it’s a concern. That’s why the Home Secretary has demanded and ordered this urgent review, because this is not what we want to see. This is not acceptable.
“But the overall picture is an improving picture. It is hard, difficult work that requires constant, constant effort by our border forces, our security services, police, our partnerships with France and other countries.
“This is a mammoth and huge task, which is now starting to reap some dividends. But of course, you know where there are still issues arising, we must absolutely tackle them.”
Pressed on Good Morning Britain whether she stood by her statement, Ms Powell said: “I think you’re just taking that completely out of context.
“We are clamping down on small boat crossings every single day… we are sucking the oxygen out of it, we are taking steps, and there are many, many steps.
“It’s not an easy thing to do to just turn on a switch, turn off a switch overnight. We have to constantly evolve.”
Most of the thousands of migrants crossing the Channel are brought to shore by Border Security Command and a small proportion by RNLI boats.
Before Monday, no small boat arrivals to the UK coast without an escort had been officially recorded since September 6, 2025.
Uncontrolled landings are so rare that last year’s incident was the only other one recorded since the Home Office began keeping data in 2023.
It will come as a blow to Border Security Command, which had suggested they were a thing of the past thanks to new surveillance technology and improved resources.
Ms Mahmood said on Wednesday that “even one” uncontrolled landing is “one too many”, and that the urgent review she had ordered would look into “what must be done to ensure it doesn’t happen again”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour have admitted they will never stop the boats.
“Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was always a farce, and open-borders Burnham has learnt absolutely nothing from his predecessor.
“The only way to stop the crossings is to deport all illegal immigrants on arrival, and only the Conservatives have a plan to do that.”
Fellow Tory frontbencher Helen Whately accused Andy Burnham’s Government of being “incredibly weak on illegal immigration”.
She added: “They should have stopped the boats, they have failed.”
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Until the Government adopts Liberal Democrat proposals to tackle the root cause by entering the EU’s landmark migration and asylum pact, these smugglers will continue to find a way through, lives will be put at risk and taxpayers’ money will be wasted.”
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