Illegal immigrants have been banned from using taxis to travel to and from hospital appointments as the number of small boat arrivals continues to rise. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed that new rules will restrict taxi use for medical travel to exceptional, evidence-based cases for asylum seekers on Wednesday night. It follows furore over reports of widespread taxi use by migrants staying in taxpayer-funded hotels, including for long journeys and in one instance a 250-mile trip to see a GP.

Ms Mahmood said the Government was working with providers to introduce alternatives, such as public transport, to save public cash, of which around £16 million is spent on transport for hotel migrants each year, on top of accommodation costs. "I have ended the wasteful use of taxis for medical appointments to protect the taxpayers' purse," the Home Secretary said. "I will stop at nothing to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to Britain, to restore order and control to our borders."

One taxi driver previously told the BBC that he had been dispatched from Gatwick to take an asylum seeker in Reading to an appointment 1.5 miles from his hotel, with a different driver sent from Heathrow to ferry the man back to his hotel.

Despite her pledge to clamp down on illegal arrivals, Ms Mahmood acknowledged that there is no guarantee the number of small boat crossings will drop over the next year.

Over 65,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Labour was elected in July 2024. The number of crossings also rose from 36,816 in 2024 to 41,472 last year.

When pressed on the 13% increase in crossings in 2025 by the Home Affairs Select Committee, Ms Mahmood admitted that the rising figure was "an issue of deep concern".

"These are unacceptable and the numbers need to come down," she said. "What I would say is this is a fiendishly difficult problem to resolve."

She added that there is no "silver bullet" and said tackling the crisis will require "long-term, careful, painful work".

Questioned on whether the numbers will go down by this time next year, the Home Secretary said: "I would love to be in that position. I can't guarantee I'm going to be in that position.

"There is a whole range of legislative changes that we have announced, which we are working at pace to draft and get right before we pass them in a Bill - that all necessarily does take some time."

Government efforts to clamp down on people smuggling gangs and others helping migrants to make the perilous journey have included a push for changes in the way the Human Rights Act is interpreted, deals with foreign powers and a ban on adverts telling migrants how to circumvent immigration checks.