More than 200,000 migrants are believed to have reached the UK via small boats since the Channel crisis began, following further arrivals on Friday. The grim milestone appears to have been reached as around 70 migrants were brought into Dover aboard a UK Border Force vessel.
Milestone Reached
The running total stood at 199,943, meaning Friday's figures are expected to push the number past 200,000. Official Home Office figures are expected to confirm the milestone when they are published on Saturday. The 200,000 migrants — equivalent to the population of a city the size of Norwich — have arrived since the first small boat was recorded on January 31, 2018.
Then-home secretary Sajid Javid declared the situation a 'national emergency' at the end of that year, even though at that stage just a few hundred had made the journey from the Continent.
Political Reaction
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: '200,000 illegal small boat immigrants shows the immigration system is totally broken, with small boat illegal immigrants up 45 per cent since the election. They never seem to get removed — so no wonder they keep flooding in, knowing they will almost certainly get to stay.'
He added: 'Many go on to commit serious crimes, including murder, rape and the sexual assault of young girls. This situation is a disgrace.' Philp continued: 'Only the Conservatives have a credible plan to fix this — ban asylum claims by illegal immigrants, come out of the European Convention on Human Rights and stop the courts intervening to allow illegal immigrants to stay. This will enable small boat illegal immigrants to all be deported within a week of arrival — back to their country of origin if possible or a safe third country if not. Then the crossings will soon stop. But Labour is too weak to do this, and Reform sadly doesn’t have a credible plan.'
Government Actions
One of Labour's first acts in office was to scrap the previous government's Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter crossings and save lives. Last month, Labour confirmed British taxpayers are to hand the French up to £660 million for small boat patrols, pushing the total paid since the start of the crisis past £1.3 billion. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood agreed to give Emmanuel Macron's government a 'core package' of £500 million — spread over the next three years — to continue funding anti-migrant operations by French police. A further £160 million will also be handed over to fund new tactics by the French, including stopping dinghies once they are already in the water.
A previous three-year, £500 million deal was agreed in 2023 by then Conservative PM Rishi Sunak. During the lifetime of that agreement, more than 84,000 migrants reached Britain. Last year saw 41,472 migrants reach Britain, the second-highest annual total since the start of the crisis.
Fatalities and Statistics
Two migrants — a 16-year-old girl and a woman in her 20s — died on Sunday while trying to cross the Channel aboard an overcrowded dinghy. Its engine caught fire, and they are feared to have been trampled to death amid the ensuing panic. The International Organisation for Migration puts the total number of deaths associated with Channel crossings since 2018 at 288, including 148 drownings.
More migrants have arrived under Sir Keir Starmer's tenure as Prime Minister than under any other PM, with 71,932. Sir Keir surpassed the previous high of 65,800 under Boris Johnson in February this year.
Official Response
A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government is bearing down on small boat crossings. The Home Secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. This builds on joint work that has stopped over 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the Channel since the election. We have removed or deported almost 60,000 people who were here illegally and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country.'
