Labour have unveiled new immigration targeting individuals and entities involved in facilitating unlawful entry into the UK.
Those sanctioned will face asset freezes, exclusion from the UK financial system, and travel bans to British territories.
Illegal Channel crossings have reached record highs in 2025, with approximately 23,000 illegal migrants having made the journey across the Channel since January, the highest figure ever recorded.
Since Labour came to power, a total of 46,000 crossings have been documented. In the first quarter of 2025, 6,642 migrants arrived via small boats, yet only 482 were removed, representing just five per cent of arrivals.
Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty, commented: “Our new sanctions regime will target the gangs profiting from the vile trade in people smuggling, human trafficking, and organised immigration crime
“It will enhance our ability to prevent, combat, deter, and disrupt dangerous irregular migration and hold perpetrators accountable. This will be a global regime, expanding our reach to target individuals and entities facilitating these journeys.”
Despite Labour’s commitment to reducing the reliance on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, recent figures suggest limited progress.
As of 31 March, 32,345 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels, an increase from 29,585 in June 2024, when the Conservative government left office.
The scheme continues to cost the taxpayer around £1 billion a year. Chancellor Reeves is keen to cut this, saying in a statement last month: “Funding that I have provided today, including from the Transformation Fund, will cut the asylum backlog, hear more appeal cases, and return people who have no right to be here”.
Despite this pledge, the data indicates that Labour has yet to reverse the trend or improve significantly on the record of the previous government.
The aim is to disrupt the financial networks and resources that enable organised immigration groups and weaken their ability to support Channel crossings.
Opposing the plan, Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, said: “The truth is you don’t stop the Channel crossings by freezing a few bank accounts in Baghdad or slapping a travel ban on a dinghy dealer in Damascus.
“Swathes of young men are arriving daily, in boats bought online, guided by traffickers who laugh at our laws and cash in on our weakness”.
Other leading politicians are sseptical of mass deportation attempts, Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage voiced similar concerns last summer, calling crackdowns a “political impossibility”.
Labour’s landmark sanctions signal a shift in rhetoric on illegal immigration, but questions remain over their practical impact. With record crossings and limited removals, critics argue that tougher words must now be matched by results.
