Conservative MP Esther McVey has warned Britain is facing a “national emergency” and “system overload” as a record-breaking 230 migrants crossed the English Channel aboard a single "mega-dinghy." In an exclusive episode of The Daily Expresso, McVey discussed the crossing, which saw the largest number of people ever recorded on a single vessel arrive in the UK in the early hours of Monday.
Record crossing and rising numbers
McVey claimed that more than 2,700 people have arrived in the UK by small boat since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, and highlighted that more than 200,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since records began in 2018. She described the situation as a “national emergency that needs to be stopped,” arguing that continued arrivals were placing mounting pressure on Britain's public services.
Pressure on housing and public services
McVey said on the podcast: "We can't have them homeless, so they basically jump to the front of the queue. But for British citizens, there's 1.4 million households waiting on council housing lists, as we call them. But that actually equates to a couple of million people here, and 160,000 children are living in temporary accommodation. And the average waiting time for those has been 2.9 years." She added that in London it averages about 18 years, but these people are coming straight in and going either into hotels, HMOs, houses of multiple occupancy or military bases.
McVey continued: "So what I'm saying is, if we can't look after the millions of people who are British citizens on a housing list, that has to be system overload. So that's your housing, but we're seeing this now in the legal system. We're seeing it in the asylum system. We're seeing it in the judicial system, and we've lost control of our sovereignty. The first thing a government has to do is look after its borders, know who's coming into the country, and we cannot do that. And also, we've got a public safety issue. We've got a rule of law issue."
Government and rescue response
A Home Office spokesperson said on Monday: “This latest incident demonstrates the reckless and dangerous tactics employed by the criminal gangs facilitating these crossings, who continue to put lives at risk by cramming ever greater numbers of people on to unseaworthy vessels. We are making progress, with the number of small-boat crossings down this year and the lowest number recorded for the month of July since 2020. But we must go further, which is why we have signed a payment-by-results deal with the French to put 40% more boots on the ground on French beaches."
The director of the French national sea rescue service (SNSM) of Berck-sur-Mer, Jean-Marc Lamblin, said that "over the past three months, we’ve been seeing more and more" 15-metre lifeboats. He added: "We broke the 150 mark not long ago; we didn’t think there could be any more, but there really is no limit now." The boat was intercepted by Border Force, HM Coastguard and the RNLI after reaching British waters, setting a new record by carrying more people than the previous high of 165 migrants recorded on a single crossing in July.
SNSM in Berck-sur-Mer explained that passengers boarded the vessel in several successive waves in a “mass movement at the time of boarding”, which posed a “major risk” given that many passengers “cannot swim”, TF1 reports. Last Tuesday, 173 migrants were rescued from a single boat after the vessel caught fire while attempting to cross the Channel. A provisional 15,242 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, representing a 43% fall compared with the same period in 2025. The Home Office recorded its lowest July total for Channel crossings since 2020 last month, the BBC reports.
