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The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel rose by a quarter last year in the previous 12 months, government data showed on Wednesday.
In total, 36,816 people arrived in Britain via small boats in 2024, a 25 per cent increase on the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, according to provisional figures released by the Home Office.
The figure will add to pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to tackle irregular migration after he vowed to “crush the gangs” that control the smuggling trade during last year’s general election campaign.
Immigration and asylum are now the second most important issue to voters after the economy, beating health, according to a tracking poll by research company YouGov.
The latest total makes 2024 the second highest year for Channel crossings since data was first collected in 2018. However, it is down 20 per cent on the peak year of 2022, when 45,774 people arrived .
The final crossing took place on December 29, when 291 people made the journey from France on six boats. Bad weather conditions prevented the crossings in the last two days of the year.
Former Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak was forced to admit he had failed in his promise to “stop the ships” after the Tories suffered their worst ever general election defeat in July.
In the first part of the year, until the voting day on July 4, a record number of migrants passed compared to comparable periods in previous years.
Some 13,574 migrants arrived in the UK during that time, 19 per cent more on the equivalent period last year and 5 per cent more on the same period in 2022, according to analysis of Home Office data by the PA news agency .
Following Labour’s landslide victory, the number of arrivals to the end of 2024 was also higher than a year earlier, but lower than the same period in 2022.
Last year was considered the deadliest year for Channel crossings, according to data from France’s coast guard service. It found that 53 people died traveling along the world’s busiest transport lane, and some campaign groups estimate the figure is higher.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said ministers have a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings, but refused to put a deadline on the government’s pledge to ensure numbers fall “rapidly”.
Starmer has insisted Labor “inherited a very bad position” from the previous Tory administration, which he accused of focusing too much on a “scam” of turning away asylum seekers arriving in small boats in Rwanda.
On entering Downing Street, he scrapped the controversial scheme before it got underway, shifting the UK’s focus to deeper cooperation with European allies and international law enforcement agencies.
The latest figures show 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 in small boats last year was below Italy, Spain and Greece.