781 migrants arrive in small boats in 2026 record
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A total of 781 migrants arrived in 10 small boats on Wednesday, the highest number for a single day so far this year, Home Office figures show.
So far this year 18,565 people have made the Channel crossing, which is 42% lower than the same period in 2025 when 32,188 had crossed in small boats.
The government said its “progress this year in tackling small boats is indisputable” but it needed to “push further and harder in order to eradicate this vile trade”.
French authorities reported on Thursday that a man had died after having a cardiac arrest while people attempted to board a vessel at a beach south of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Wednesday’s figures include a dinghy carrying 51 people which departed from Normandy, much further west than small boats typically set off, on Monday morning and spent more than 33 hours at sea.
About 150 people crossed from France in three small boats on both Monday and Tuesday. This followed five days with no crossings at all.
Wednesday’s figure was the highest daily total since 803 people arrived on 20 December 2025.
The highest total in one day in recent years was on 3 September 2022, when 1,305 migrants made the crossing.
How many people cross the English Channel in small boats?
Between 1 January and 23 September 2026, a total of 18,565 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France. This was down by 42% on the same period the previous year.
These crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020.
Nearly all those who arrive by small boat claim asylum. Under international law, this means they are allowed to stay in the country while their asylum application is considered.
Small boat arrivals made up 40% of asylum applications between July 2025 to June 2026.
Boats that arrived in the UK from 24 September 2025 to 23 September 2026 carried an average of 67 people. This has more than doubled since 2021.
Experts say overcrowding in boats makes crossings riskier. At least 84 people died while attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, according to the United Nations (UN).
When looking at the scale of small boats crossings, the number of these arrivals is about 5% of the size of total immigration into the UK from January 2025 to December 2025.
The government has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind these crossings in order to reduce the numbers.
Who is arriving in the UK on small boats?
People from Eritrea accounted for 18% of all arrivals from July 2025 to June 2026.
In the latest figures covering January 2025 to December 2025, at least 2,335 people who arrived by small boat were found to be potential victims of human trafficking or other forms of modern slavery, according to the Home Office.
How else do people stay in the UK without permission?
Another 4,712 people were detected entering the UK without permission via other methods including hiding in vehicles, travelling on ferries or through airports from July 2025 to June 2026. This was down by 17% on the same period the previous year.
There are also individuals who arrive legally, for example via a work or study visa, and then overstay their limit.
The total number of people who live in the UK illegally after arriving legally is not known.
Crossings are more common during warmer weather and when there are calmer sea conditions, with the highest monthly totals typically between June and September.
The English Channel is one of the most dangerous and busiest shipping lanes in the world.
Labour Party deputy leader Lucy Powell said earlier that the government had “significantly reduced” the number of people arriving on small boat crossings after “a huge amount of work”.
“If we had a switch that we could switch tomorrow to stop all small boats we would switch it,” she told BBC Radio Kent.
She said the government was taking steps to reduce the number of people arriving on small boats, including providing extra resources and new legislation.
“I know that people want this to happen faster,” Powell told the BBC. “We are taking those steps, it is working.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was always a farce and open-borders Burnham has learnt absolutely nothing from his predecessor.
“The only way to stop the crossings is to deport all illegal immigrants on arrival, and only the Conservatives have a plan to do that.”
Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said the government should “tackle the root cause by entering the EU’s landmark migration and asylum pact”.
Until they did so, he said, people smugglers would “continue to find a way through, lives will be put at risk and taxpayers’ money will be wasted”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would “deploy the Royal Navy and stop the boats”.
On Tuesday Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered officials to conduct a review after two migrant vessels in as many days made it ashore near Folkestone undetected.
Small boat passengers are usually brought to shore by Border Force officials or on rescue boats and uncontrolled arrivals are rare. Mahmood said the beach landings were “not acceptable”.
The landing on Monday was the first in more than a year and only four have been recorded since the Home Office began keeping data in 2023.
Additional reporting by PA Media
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