A record 28,076 people have reached Britain in small boats so far this year, up 46% on the same period in 2024, according to Home Office data released on Monday. The milestone was passed after 212 migrants arrived in four vessels on Sunday, fuelling weekend demonstrations outside hotels housing asylum-seekers in Birmingham, London, Horley and more than two dozen other locations. Police said they arrested 15 people during the protests and counter-protests, which featured flag-waving groups demanding an end to what they call the “hotel scheme.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government has promised to phase out the use of hotels by 2029 and to clear a backlog of more than 100,000 asylum cases. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper outlined plans for fast-track appeals overseen by independent adjudicators and pledged tighter cooperation with France on returns. Official figures show about 32,000 asylum seekers were still living in hotels at the end of June, down from more than 56,000 under the previous Conservative administration in 2023. The surge in crossings and the high-profile protests are sharpening political pressure on Starmer. A YouGov survey for The Times found 71% of voters — including a majority of Labour supporters — think the prime minister is mishandling the hotel issue. Separate polling by research group More in Common put immigration ahead of the National Health Service as the public’s second-biggest concern after the cost-of-living squeeze. Labour grandees, including former Home Secretary David Blunkett, warn the debate is becoming "toxic" and are urging a more radical response. Right-wing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has seized on the discontent, unveiling proposals for mass deportations, detention centres and withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. Lawmakers across the political spectrum say the heated rhetoric is feeding a spike in online threats; several MPs reported abuse over the weekend that they described as worse than during the Brexit years.