Almost 300 small boat migrants swarm across the Channel in just one day - with more expected in the coming hours

Mark White
Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:17:29 +0000

Almost 300 small boat migrants have crossed the English Channel in the past 24 hours.

An improvement in weather saw almost 140 arrive on Tuesday.

Today already, a further 150 have made the illegal crossing.

Weather conditions are expected to remain good until Thursday afternoon, with more crossings expected in the hours ahead.

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New vessels operated by the Border Security Command have spent a second day responding to multiple small boat sightings.

At least two migrant boats were forced to turn back earlier today after suffering engine failure.

GB News revealed this morning that Border Security Command has deployed new vessels to collect migrants making their way across the Channel.

The newly branded Border Security Command vessel Courageous arrived at Dover harbour just after 5pm on Tuesday.

The People’s Channel counted 65 migrants who were brought ashore at the new Border Security Command processing centre in Dover.

The new vessels are slightly large variants of catamarans that were previously deployed by Border Force in response to migrant sightings.

Whether the older vessels, which include Tiger, Typhoon and Hurricane, will remain in use is unclear.

With weather conditions relatively calm, it marks an opportunity for migrants to make the perilous trip.

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Last week, more than 300 small boat migrants arrived in the UK on a single day after two people died attempting to make the journey.

French authorities scrambled to rescue 111 people across several different incidents.

It marked the first day migrants were able to successfully cross the English Channel since March 23.

Rescuers pulled eight people onto boats at Gravelines, near Calais, but two of them could not be saved.

Some 325 arrived in five different boats, the Home Office said.

The day before, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced she had failed to agree a new beach patrol deal with France aimed at reducing the number of departures.

On Tuesday, Shabana Mahmood signed a two-month £2 million a week extension to the current arrangement as the UK and France thrash out a longer-term agreement.

The eleventh-hour deal with Paris came just before the near £500 million deal aimed at reducing the number of departures was due to end, and means operational contracts will continue to be funded by £16.2 million of UK Government money.

A spokesperson said Ms Mahmood was “driving a hard bargain” with Paris, “getting more bang for our buck”.