About 100 migrants arrived in the UK on Wednesday morning in the first small boat crossing since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. More boats are understood to be on the way.
Crossings had plummeted to zero for the week before this, despite calm weather conditions.
Reform UK warns of surge
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, said: "Migrants have heard the message loud and clear: With Open Borders Burnham in charge, there’s never been a better time to make the crossing."
"Illegal arrivals are set to surpass 13,000 this week, and with Andy Burnham now in No 10 and four more days of flat weather ahead, the terrifying thing is that numbers are going to increase massively."
Reform UK suggested the number of illegal migrants to have arrived in the UK in small boats this year is expected to pass 13,000 by the weekend.
Crossings down overall
Small boat crossings to the UK have almost halved, while irregular crossings to Europe are down almost 40% so far this year.
Analysis of Home Office data showed 12,469 people had arrived in the UK on small boats by July 10 this year – down 43% from 2025, when 21,690 people had made the perilous journey across the English Channel in the same period.
UK-France deal
In April, Labour agreed a deal to pay France £662 million in a three-year funding package from 2026-29, supposed to help "strengthen existing controls" in northern France and "fund new tactics" to stop the boats.
A new French riot police unit, the Compagnie républicaine de sécurité (CRS), made up of around 50 specially trained officers, has been deployed to stop asylum seekers, who have been known to become violent, from attempting a crossing.
Drones and helicopters are also now being used to monitor the beaches and an additional 30 maritime officers and a new vessel has been launched to tackle the "taxi boats" used by smugglers to get migrants to the larger vessels for the crossing.
