Nearly 37,000 migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats so far this year, figures showed on Thursday, surpassing the full-year total for 2024, as the government faced fresh pressure over its attempts to stop the crossings.
A total of 36,954 undocumented migrants have crossed the Channel from northern France to England’s southern coast so far this year, compared with 36,816 for the whole of last year, the interior ministry figures showed.
The numbers will be a massive headache for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had promised to “smash the gangs” of people smugglers charging migrants huge sums for the dangerous journey.
The latest figures mean 2025 is set to have the second-highest number of small boat crossings, after the record was set in 2022 when more than 45,000 migrants made the trip.
Public frustration has grown in recent years about immigration levels, fuelling the rapid rise of Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party which Starmer had hoped to stem with a string of policy announcements including a returns deal with France.
But results have not yet been forthcoming.
In the first six months of 2025, there was a 48-percent increase in the number of people arriving on small boats compared to last year, with the government blaming extended dry weather.
The interior ministry said Thursday that 42 “illegal migrants” were returned to France under London’s “one-in, one-out” deal with Paris.
– ‘Farce’ –
One migrant, an Iranian national who was deported to France at the start of the deal in September, re-entered the UK on a small boat last week, further exposing holes in the scheme.
But Starmer insisted the deal was effective, and said the man would be “fast-tracked back out of the country”.
“We know he hasn’t got a claim to make, therefore we’ll remove him very, very swiftly,” Starmer told broadcasters Thursday.
The deal struck between Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron is aimed at deterring small boat crossings by enabling deportations of anyone deemed not to have a right to stay in Britain.
“The government’s gimmick returns scheme is descending into farce,” the opposition Conservative party’s interior ministry spokesman Chris Philp posted on X.
Farage, whose upstart party is currently leading in popularity polls, said on social media that the scheme was an “abject failure”.
France had previously agreed to change the way it patrolled its waters to intercept the boats but the BBC reported Thursday that Paris is backing away from that commitment, citing French sources.
Images of overloaded dinghies leaving French beaches with law enforcement officers appearing to watch on have fuelled public discontent.
According to Britain’s Home Office, migrants who crossed the Channel between March 2024 and March 2025 were mainly Afghans, Syrians, Eritreans, Iranians, and Sudanese.
French officials have claimed that Britain attracts migrants because the lack of a national identity card makes it easier to work illegally.
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