UK small boat migrant arrivals this year exceed total for 2024

LONDON - Nearly 37,000 migrants arrived in the UK by small boats this year, more than the total for the whole of 2024, interior ministry figures showed on Thursday.

It is 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 across the Channel.

A total of 36,954 migrants crossed over from northern France to England's southern cost so far this year, compared with 36,816 for all of last year, the figures showed.

As public frustration over the issue grows, Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party's popularity has soared in the opinion polls.

The annual record for small boat arrivals was set in 2022 when the number for the full year reached 45,774.

Starmer's efforts to stem the tide have failed to yield results.

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.

Images of overloaded vessels leaving French beaches with law enforcement officers appearing to just watch on have fuelled public discontent.

According to Britain's interior ministry, 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.