More than 150,000 migrants have crossed Channel to UK in small boats since 2018

More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats since 2018.

The government began recording the number of people who have made the dangerous journey almost seven years ago, on 1 January 2018.

The milestone was reached on Boxing Day, when 407 people crossed the Channel on 10 boats – bringing the government’s tally to 150,243.

On Christmas Day, more than 450 migrants arrived in the UK in 11 boats.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the government has a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings – but is yet to set a target date for when the numbers should fall “sharply”.

Ms Cooper has previously appeared to rule out opening more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to bring down crossings on small boats.

Creating more options was not “an alternative to going after the criminal gangs”, she told the Commons’ home affairs select committee earlier this month.

The home secretary also told MPs she was “determined to keep making progress” on reducing the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers, labelling them “completely inappropriate and extremely costly”.

More than 22,000 people have arrived in the UK on small boats since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister in July.

He has put international cooperation with law enforcement agencies across Europe at the heart of his plan to cut the number of arrivals.

He previously said his government “inherited a very bad position”, with record numbers of migrants in the first six months of the year.

Sir Keir blamed that on the previous government focusing on what he called the “Rwanda gimmick”, saying there was “not enough attention… on taking down the gangs that are running this vile trade”.

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So far in 2024, 35,898 migrants have crossed the channel into the UK, according to provisional Home Office figures – a 22% increase on this time last year. However, the figure is down 22% on 2022.

This year has been the deadliest since the Channel crisis unfolded, as some 50 people have died while trying to make the crossing, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard.