Blow for Starmer as migrant Channel crossings reach second-highest number despite Labour crackdown

Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship plans to stop small boats crossing the English Channel have suffered a blow as 41,472 migrants arrived in 2025 – the second-highest annual figure on record.

The Labour prime minister was elected on a pledge to “smash the gangs” and slash the number of people making the perilous journey from France.

But last year’s figure was 13 per cent higher than the total of 36,816 in 2024, when the Conservatives were in charge for the first half of the year, and 41 per cent higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.

The overall number in 2025 was 9 per cent below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022, meaning that nearly 65,000 migrants have arrived on small boats since Labour came to power.

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The development comes after a series of setbacks for the government’s plans to tackle the crisis.

In June, the head of the UK’s borders watchdog, David Bolt, questioned the government’s ability to achieve its promise to “smash the gangs” behind the soaring crossings – and predicted that Rachel Reeves would also fail to meet her flagship pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.

And in October, it emerged that a migrant who was deported under a new “one in, one out” deal with France had returned to the UK in a small boat just weeks later.

In November, the home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a new raft of reforms in what she described as “the most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times” in a bid to deter people from coming to the UK and make it easier to deport them.

Under the changes, inspired by the Danish system, refugee status will become temporary, with regular reviews every 30 months. Refugees will also be forced to wait 20 years for permanent settlement in the UK, up from five years currently.

But the plans, yet to be introduced in legislation, have triggered a backlash from Labour MPs, who branded the package “shameful” and said it echoed the rhetoric of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch also said that the measures did not go far enough, and that the UK would have to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to resolve the crisis.

In December, the government saw its Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act become law. This piece of legislation introduces new criminal offences and allows law enforcement agencies to use counterterror-style powers to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

The blow to Sir Keir’s plans could have been worse. For much of 2025, the number of arrivals was running at the highest level seen since data on Channel crossings was first published in 2018.

But the pace slowed down during the last two months of the year, bolstered by long periods when no migrants arrived, including a 28-day run from November 15 to December 12.

However, the average number of people per boat rose again in 2025 to 62, up from 53 in 2024 and 49 in 2023, continuing a trend that has been underway since 2018.

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Last month, border security minister Alex Norris told peers that 193 migrants had so far been sent back to France and 195 had arrived in the UK under the returns deal, which is designed to deter people from making the dangerous crossing.

But the scheme has been criticised as “no deterrent at all” by shadow home secretary Chris Philp.

At least 17 people died while attempting the journey last year, according to reports by French and UK authorities, but there is no official record of fatalities in the Channel.

The International Organisation for Migration has reported 36 more migrant deaths, which are believed to be linked to attempts to travel from mainland Europe to the UK.

Reacting to the total number of Channel crossings for 2025, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, 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.”

He added that there needs to be a “multi-pronged approach”, including the targeting of gangs alongside international cooperation to ensure that refugees can access safe and legal routes – something Ms Mahmood has included in her plans to overhaul the asylum system.