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The number of migrants crossing the English Channel to the UK rose by a quarter compared to the previous 12 months, government data showed on Wednesday.
A total of 36,816 people arrived in Britain by small boat in 2024, a 25 per cent increase on the 29,437 arrivals in 2023, according to provisional figures released by the Home Office.
The figures will increase pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to tackle irregular immigration after he pledged during last year’s general election campaign to “crush the gangs” that control the smuggling trade.
immigration According to a tracker poll by research firm YouGov, asylum is now the second most important issue to voters after the economy, beating health.
The latest total makes 2024 the second-highest year for Channel crossings since data were first collected in 2018. However, this is down 20 percent from the peak year of 2022, when 45,774 people arrived.
The final crossing took place on December 29, when 291 people set sail from France in six boats. Bad weather prevented the crossing on the last two days of the year.
Former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak was forced to admit he had failed in his promise to “stop the boat” following the Tories’ worst general election defeat in July.
In the first part of the year, leading up to polling day on July 4, a record number of migrants crossed over the comparable period in previous years.
Around 13,574 migrants arrived in the UK in that period, up 19 per cent on the same period the previous year and 5 per cent more than the same period in 2022, according to an analysis of Home Office data by the PA news agency.
Following Labour’s landslide victory, arrivals to the end of 2024 were also higher than the previous year but lower than the same period in 2022.
Last year was considered the deadliest for Channel crossings, according to data from France’s coastguard service. It found that 53 people had died while sailing across the world’s busiest shipping lane, and some campaign groups estimated the figure to be higher.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings but refused to put a time frame on the government’s commitment to ensure the number fell “drastically”.
Starmer insisted Labor had “inherited a very bad position” from the previous Tory administration, which he accused of focusing too much on a “gimmick” of removing asylum seekers arriving in small boats in Rwanda.
After entering Downing Street, he scrapped the controversial scheme before it was launched, shifting the UK’s focus towards deeper cooperation with European allies and international law enforcement agencies.
The latest figures show an average of 53 migrants arrived per boat in 2024, four more than in 2023 and a sharp increase on 2018 when the average boat carried seven people.
Last year the number of people arriving in the UK by small boat was lower than in Italy, Spain and Greece.
