People smugglers are offering migrants £500 “summer deals” to cross the English Channel, the lowest price since the small boats crisis began in 2018. The reduction has sparked fears of more deaths, coming just hours after four migrants died attempting the crossing from France to Britain on Thursday.
Messages on WhatsApp are promoting the perilous journeys. One post read: “My dear friend, everyone here/in this group knows me, it’s not a cage for you, it costs $500, you don’t pay a single penny until you receive the visa.” A French source warned: “With the prices decreasing to just £500, the level of unsafety on the journeys increases. The engines are becoming poorer in quality, leading to more problems. The smugglers are cutting more corners and taking more risks. More tragedies will happen.”
Politicians and campaigners are urging Sir Keir Starmer to honour his pledge to tackle the criminal gangs behind the crossings. Louise Calvey, executive director at Asylum Matters, said: “We should all be utterly appalled, not by the prices people are supposedly paying to risk their lives in our Channel, but by the fact that our government continues to feed the business model of the criminal networks who put lives at risk for profit.” In 2024, the Prime Minister announced an extra £75 million for border policing, bringing total funding for the Border Security Command to £150 million, and vowed to “treat people smugglers like terrorists”.
However, a dispute continues between the UK and France over intercepting boats. France has rejected a proposal by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to deploy British Border Force vessels in French waters and return migrants to France. Labour MP Rachael Maskell said: “Every life lost is an absolute tragedy. Already six people have died in the English Channel this year, while 24 died in 2025, down from 73 in 2024. However, these lower-cost crossings could see the numbers rise again over this highly dangerous stretch of water.” She added that a failure to provide safe routes was driving people into the hands of traffickers.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “This is the cheapest crossings have ever been. It’s a shocking situation. And, with the conflict in Iran, it is undoubted that migrants fleeing the country will arrive by small boat in Britain as well.” Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency said a 27-year-old Sudanese man was arrested on suspicion of “endangering another during a journey by sea to the UK” and held at Manston.
