Human rights lawyer David Haye has called for Britain to "reform or leave" the European Convention on Human Rights, arguing that the country "cannot regain control of its borders" while remaining under current arrangements.

The comments come as Channel crossings reached record levels over the weekend, with 1,194 migrants arriving in 18 small boats on Saturday according to Home Office data. This marked the highest number of migrants recorded on a single day so far in 2025.

Speaking to GB News, the human rights lawyer explained: "The problem you've got is that, when you look at it, every single country that's in the ECHR, you would imagine, would want control of their borders and be able to deport foreign criminals.

"That’s something which the nine that signed that letter, and ourselves, are actually experiencing now we're experiencing those problems.

Human rights lawyer David Haye called for changes to the ECHR

"But perhaps the fact that only nine out of the whole membership of the EC I think it's about 46 signed that letter shows you something.

"Why haven’t the others signed up? Why are other countries not wanting to change that?

"And, I hate to say this, but the reality is unless we reform that or leave, we are not going to be able to get control of our borders.

"We'll have human rights used against us by very bad people in this world, who are effectively using our good ethics and human rights against ourselves. That’s one of the big problems you're seeing here."

Defence Secretary John Healey described the scenes as "shocking", saying migrants were being picked up by smugglers "like a taxi" to be brought to the UK. He claimed Britain had "lost control of its borders over the last five years".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended the Government's response to the crossings, stating: "Nobody should be making that journey across the channel and it's our duty to make sure that we ensure that they don't."

Speaking in Glasgow on Monday, Starmer said the UK was "working very closely with our counterparts in France and elsewhere to take further action in northern France" and providing "enhanced powers to our own law enforcement through the Borders Bill, which is currently going through Parliament."

Recent polling by the More in Common think tank reveals that 57 per cent of Britons consider the current net migration figure of 431,000 too high, despite welcoming the reduction from the previous year's 860,000.

The survey of 2,000 people found that 51 per cent thought the reduction was good for the UK, but only 13 per cent credited Labour with the decrease. Just 17 per cent gave the previous Conservative government credit for the latest figures.

Ed Hodgson, associate director at More in Common, said: "The Labour Party should not necessarily rest assured that this fall means that they have tackled the issue in the mind of voters. Few Britons think that Labour is solely responsible for this fall and our research elsewhere shows that the public don't think Labour are interested in bringing down immigration."

Starmer said the UK was "working very closely with our counterparts in France" to tackle illegal immigration

Haye also criticised the Attorney General's recent comparison of leaving the ECHR to Nazi Germany, calling it a "schoolboy error" that showed a "lack of judgment".

He told GB News: "Someone in that position, with a very, very important role, perhaps the most important lawyer in the country, making such a gaffe is very disappointing, and I think a little bit terrifying as well."

Haye described the Attorney General as "an intelligent person" but said the comment was "very worrying" given his role as the government's chief legal adviser.

He added: "If this is the person in charge of all the very substantial legal problems, for instance, the ECHR and its reform, that we face over the coming years, then it's a lot more than just a foolish mistake."