Over 41,000 people crossed the Channel in small boats last year, with the figures described as “shameful” by the Home Office.
According to the government, 42,472 migrants arrived in the UK through crossing the channel in 2025, a number regarded as the highest after 2022’s 45,774.
The number of crossings remained at a record high for much of the year, before declining in the final two months of 2025.
The annual total was 13% higher than in 2024.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer campaigned in the 2024 election on a pledge to “smash the gangs” behind irregular migration and, in the past year, reached a “one-in, one-out” returns agreement with France aimed at discouraging crossings.
A spokesperson for the Home Office stated that the amount of small boat crossings was “shameful and the British people deserve better” adding that “This government is taking action. We have removed almost 50,000 people who were here illegally, and our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.”
Speaking further on the decisions made, they said: “The home secretary has announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here.”
Read also the related story on New Daily Prime: UK net migration falls sharply amid policy shifts
The leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, criticised the government’s approach to migration, describing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plans as ineffective.
He also claimed that many of the young men who arrived in the UK last year could pose security concerns.
The Conservative Party has argued that foreign nationals who arrive in the UK by small boats are more likely to be imprisoned.
However, fact-checking organisation Full Fact reported in July that the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory said there is no reliable publicly available data on crimes committed by people who arrive via small boats.
The Conservative shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was the only way to reduce the number of small boat crossings.
He said: “Labour have confined themselves to cosmetic tweaks, hence only 5% of arrivals have been removed. There is no deterrent and anyone who crosses the Channel knows they can invoke human rights law and remain indefinitely. Labour lacks the backbone to confront that truth.”
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, also announced plans in November for “the most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times”, as part of efforts to discourage people from coming to the UK and make it easier to deport them.
Under proposals modelled by Denmark’s asylum system, refugee status would no longer be permanent and would instead be subject to review every 30 months.
The changes would also extend the waiting period for permanent settlement in the UK to 20 years, compared with the current five-year requirement.
The chief executive of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, reacting to the Channel crossings for 2025, said: “Most men, women and children taking these journeys have fled oppressive regimes like the Taliban in Afghanistan and brutal civil wars in countries like Sudan.
“No one risks their life on a flimsy boat in the Channel except out of desperation to be safe in a country where they have family or community connections.
“It’s right the government wants to stop Channel crossings, but plans that will punish people found to be refugees are unfair and not an effective deterrent.”
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