Joanna Lumley Warns UK Cannot Handle “Millions” Amid Rising Channel Crossings
London, UK โ- Actress Joanna Lumley,โค best known for her role in “Absolutely Fabulous,” has spoken out on the ongoing migrant crisis, stating that the UK’s capacity to support unlimited โคmigration is limited. Lumley emphasized the need to address the root causes of migration, citing lack of food, inadequate infrastructure, โand ongoing warfare โขin developing nations โas key drivers forcing people to leave their homes.
“Most people would much โrather remain in their own homeland.We โคall have a โขgreatโ protectiveโ feeling to our own homeland,” Lumleyโ explained. “The reason they move is that eitherโข it cannot yield enough food for them toโ live on, or the โwarfare โขis such that they’re in danger of their lives, or they want a better life.”
Lumley called โฃfor a shift in focus towards creating stability and opportunity in migrants’โ countries of origin. “Howโ are we in the world going to โspread this โback โagain so you can stayโ in yourโ fabulous country? You canโข grow crops, you canโ have factoriesโค and things like this, youโ can have schools and hospitals, everything can โwork here, butโ it must be madeโฃ safe and โstable and functioning.” โคShe cautioned against solely focusing on borderโ control, stating, “You don’t get to thatโ stage by puttingโ up fences. You do something else.”
The actress โคalso referenced a biblical passage, stating, “There’s a lovely sentence which I โคread overโ in a bookshop in Paris, โคit comes from the Bible, ‘And the Lord said beโ not โinhospitable to strangers, โlest they be angelsโฃ in disguise.'”
Acknowledging public concern overโค numbers, Lumley stated, “Of course, a โtiny country โขcan’t support millions and millions of people, but we’ve got to startโ thinking outwards a bit more.”
Her commentsโฃ come as official figuresโ reveal a meaningful โincrease in smallโข boat crossings. Since Labor took powerโข in July of last โขyear, 57,643 people โhaveโ arrived in the UK via this โroute. The number of crossings reached โ 10,000 before the endโ of April – over a month earlierโ than in the โฃprevious year. In September 2025, a single small boat carried a record 125 migrants across the English Channel, the largest number ever recorded in one vessel.