New Home Office figures have revealed the staggering scale of the UK's asylum crisis, with 79,589 people granted refugee status between 2018 and 2025. This comes as record numbers of migrants are cramming onto boats to cross the English Channel.
Asylum claim statistics
Out of approximately 178,845 asylum claims made between 2018 and 2025, 44.5% (79,589) were granted refugee status. Meanwhile, 29.8% (53,305) were rejected by the Home Office, and 18.7% (33,413) were classed as "withdrawn" applications. A further 7% (12,538) still have a decision pending.
Record-breaking boat crossings
Last week, 165 asylum seekers packed into one dinghy to reach the UK, but that record was broken on Tuesday when 173 mostly men crammed into a single craft. The migrants had to be rescued and were returned to France after their boat caught fire in the Channel.
French authorities said 173 people were rescued by French vessels, with assistance from two British Border Security Command boats and an RNLI lifeboat. They were taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer. The dinghy, which left the beach at Veules-les-Roses, near Dieppe, on Monday night, caught fire in the French search and rescue region on Tuesday morning, according to the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency. A total of 63 migrants were taken to France on the British vessels.
Political reactions
The incident came a day after Reform UK proposed using the Royal Navy to return migrants to France or Belgium. A party spokesman said: "This incident proves that Reform UK's Operation Fortress plan is workable and that British vessels are able to take Channel migrants back to France without violating maritime or international law as part of a humanitarian mission."
Justice Secretary Alex Norris, who previously served as border security minister, told reporters: "It's a very visible reminder both of the dangerous nature of those crossings and of the blind indifference that human traffickers have for life on those boats."
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "This is why it's so wrong that French police stand by and do nothing while the illegal migrant boats embark – lives are being risked."
Overall crossing numbers
Last Wednesday was the busiest day for small boat crossings so far this year, with 752 migrants arriving in the UK. However, the provisional total for 2026 so far is 14,561, which is 43% lower than the same period last year (25,436) and down 15% on 2024 (16,903).
