Figures show more than 30,000 migrants crossed Channel since Starmer became PM

More than 30,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, according to the latest Government figures.

A total of 154 people made the crossing in four boats on Friday, according to the Home Office.

This brings the total for the year so far to 6,796, a 25% increase on numbers by the same point last year, a 70% increase on 2023 and 49% rise on 2022, according to analysis of the figures by the PA news agency.

And the total since Sir Keir entered Number 10 is 30,038, according to the data.

The arrivals on Friday were the first to cross the Channel since March 27, when 236 people were brought ashore in the UK.

Co-operation agreement

The 30,000-milestone comes as Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to the western Balkans this week to ratify a “co-operation agreement” aimed at speeding up intelligence-sharing to disrupt people-smuggling.

The region is a key transit route through which migrants travel to the European Union and UK, accounting for almost 22,000 irregular border crossings in the continent recorded last year, according to the Foreign Office.

Ahead of the trip, Mr Lammy said: “(Criminals) are risking lives for profit and becoming increasingly violent in their determination to make as much money as possible.

“This diabolical, lawless trade of smuggling vulnerable people is completely unacceptable and we are determined to end it as we secure the UK’s borders under our plan for change.

“With the world becoming more dangerous and unpredictable, the western Balkans is of critical importance to the UK and Europe’s collective security, and the UK remains committed to building resilience and stability in the region.”

People-smuggling gangs

Sir Keir earlier this week blamed the Conservatives for failing to prevent people-smuggling gangs targeting the UK, saying Labour inherited a “total fragmentation” of policing, Border Force and intelligence agencies.

He said the Government’s Border Security Command would help address those gaps.

Meanwhile, a separate deal between the UK, US, Albania, Sweden, Tunisia and Vietnam has been made seeking to take more collective action to target criminal gangs advertising illegal migration online.

The Home Office said the agreement would see governments work with social media companies – including Meta, TikTok and X – to “design out” opportunities for gangs to glorify people-smuggling activities.

A Home Office spokesman 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 and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

“That’s why this government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.”