More than 150,000 migrants have crossed Channel to UK in small boats since 2018 | UK News
More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats since 2018.
The government began recording the number of people who have made the dangerous journey almost seven years ago, on 1 January 2018.
The milestone was reached on Boxing Day, when 407 people crossed the Channel on 10 boats – bringing the government’s tally to 150,243.
On Christmas Day, more than 450 migrants arrived in the UK in 11 boats.
In response to the figures, shadow home secretary Chris Philip called it “an insult” and said: “It’s clear a new approach is needed.
“The National Crime Agency said stopping Channel migrants is not possible without a Rwanda-style scheme. It was a terrible mistake for Labour to cancel our deterrent before it even started.
“That’s why crossing are up 20% since Labour came in. The government must urgently restore a Rwanda style removals deterrent.”
However, a Home Office source insisted the previous Conservative government “left an appalling legacy of broken border security”.
A group of people thought to be migrants on a bus at Dover today. Pic: PA
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government has a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings – but is yet to set a target date for when the numbers should fall “sharply”.
Ms Cooper has previously appeared to rule out opening more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to bring down crossings on small boats.
Creating more options was not “an alternative to going after the criminal gangs”, she told the Commons’ home affairs select committee earlier this month.
The home secretary also told MPs she was “determined to keep making progress” on reducing the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers, labelling them “completely inappropriate and extremely costly”.
A Home Office spokesperson also said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.
“We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
More than 22,000 people have arrived in the UK on small boats since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister in July.
He has put international cooperation with law enforcement agencies across Europe at the heart of his plan to cut the number of arrivals.
He previously said his government “inherited a very bad position”, with record numbers of migrants in the first six months of the year.
Sir Keir blamed that on the previous government focusing on what he called the “Rwanda gimmick”, saying there was “not enough attention… on taking down the gangs that are running this vile trade”.
More from Sky News:
What Dover residents make of small boat crossings
PM pays tribute after his brother’s death
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
So far in 2024, 35,898 migrants have crossed the channel into the UK, according to provisional Home Office figures – a 22% increase on this time last year. However, the figure is down 22% on 2022.
This year has been the deadliest since the Channel crisis unfolded, as some 50 people have died while trying to make the crossing, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard.