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The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel rose by a quarter last year on the previous 12 months, government data showed on Wednesday.
In total 36,816 people arrived in Britain via small boats in 2024, an increase of 25 per cent on the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, according to provisional figures published by the Home Office.
The tally will add to pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to address irregular migration, after he pledged to “smash the gangs” controlling the smuggling trade during the general election campaign last year.
Immigration and asylum is now the second most important issue to voters after the economy, beating health, according to a tracker poll by research company YouGov.
The latest total makes 2024 the second-highest year for Channel crossings since data was first collated in 2018. However, it is down 20 per cent on the peak year of 2022, when 45,774 people arrived.
The final crossings happened on December 29, when 291 people made the journey from France in six boats. Poor weather conditions prevented crossings 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 boats” after the Tories suffered their worst ever defeat at the general election in July.
In the first part of the year, up until polling day on July 4, a record number of migrants crossed compared with comparable periods in previous years.
Some 13,574 migrants arrived in the UK during that time, up 19 per cent on the equivalent period the previous year and up 5 per cent on the same period in 2022, according to analysis of Home Office data by the PA news agency.
After Labour’s landslide victory, the number of arrivals up until the end of 2024 was 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 died while making the journey across the busiest shipping lane in the world, and some campaign groups estimate that figure to be higher.
UK home secretary Yvette Cooper has said ministers have a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings but has refused to put a deadline on the government’s vow to ensure numbers fall “sharply”.
Starmer has insisted Labour “inherited a very bad position” from the previous Tory administration, which he accused of focusing too heavily on a “gimmick” of removing asylum seekers arriving on small boats to Rwanda.
On entering Downing Street he scrapped the contentious scheme before it had launched, shifting the UK’s focus towards deeper co-operation with European allies and international law enforcement agencies.
The latest figures show that 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.
The number of people arriving in the UK by small boats last year remained below Italy, Spain and Greece.