A Cabinet minister has declined to give assurances that the number of small boat arrivals will come down by this time next year. Pat McFadden said ministers are going to “have to work harder” to bring down the crossings amid record numbers in the first half of this year.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said “everyone in Government knows it’s a big challenge”, as the tally for 2025 nears 20,000. Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Pat McFadden has finally admitted what’s been clear to the public for months – Keir Starmer has lost control of our borders.

“Over 20,000 illegal crossings so far this year and tens of thousands more on the way. Now, even the Prime Minister’s right-hand man can’t say whether the numbers will go down next year.

“This is a national security crisis and Labour are asleep at the wheel, completely distracted by the crisis made in Downing Street.”

Figures released on Tuesday confirmed a record number of crossings for the first half of the year.

Some 19,982 migrants had arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing by the end of June, latest Home Office figures show.

The total is 48% higher than the figure for the first six months of 2024, which was 13,489, and 75% above the equivalent figure for 2023, which was 11,433.

Some 879 migrants made the journey in 13 boats on Monday, the third-highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.

Data collection on the Channel crossings began in 2018.

Mr McFadden said: “We are going to have to work harder to bring the numbers down.

“Everyone in Government knows it’s a big challenge, and as a team we are determined to meet it.”

Pressed specifically on whether the numbers would be down by this time next year, Mr McFadden said: “I’m not going to make a prediction.”

Asked again for an assurance that the numbers will reduce, he added: “I can give you an assurance that the numbers at the moment are too high. We are working together to tackle this.”