Reform UK's home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf claimed in a radio interview that “almost 1%, one in 100, of people making this journey are dying” when discussing small boat crossings in the English Channel. This claim is incorrect; data suggests the ratio of deaths to arrivals is closer to one in 1,000.
Death-to-arrival ratio
According to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, between 2018 and 2025, 162 people are known to have died attempting a small boat crossing. Over the same period, there were 192,610 recorded arrivals, meaning deaths were approximately 0.084% of arrivals—around one death per 1,190 arrivals.
The Migration Observatory told Full Fact on Monday that it had counted 17 deaths so far in 2026, approximately 0.11% of arrivals as of August 2. These figures exclude unsuccessful crossings intercepted by French authorities, and the Observatory notes its data “may understate the true toll, as not all incidents are reported”.
Mr Yusuf did say earlier in the interview that “north of 170” people had died, which is broadly correct. Full Fact contacted Reform UK for comment.
Fake Andy Burnham image
An image of Andy Burnham running with a film crew in the foreground has been shared on social media, with claims he is doing “social media for the cameras”. The image is fake, though it resembles genuine photos taken on July 25.
Differences include a reddish car in front of the police vehicle instead of a black one, and the police car's number plate not appearing in DVLA records. The image also contains a SynthID watermark from OpenAI, suggesting AI generation, along with glitches like disembodied feet and a boom microphone emerging from a hedge.
Full Fact advises verifying sources and offers a misinformation toolkit and guide to spotting AI fakes.
