Migrant crisis: 35,000 small boat migrants have crossed English Channel illegally so far this year

Poor weather in the Channel had prevented crossings since last week, when more than 2,000 arrived over several days.

Winds began to ease late on Tuesday, with sea conditions calm enough early this morning for people smugglers to begin launching their inflatable rafts from the French coast.

Throughout the morning, Border Force and the RNLI have responded to multiple reports of migrant boats reaching UK waters.

Just after 7.30am, the Border Force vessel Ranger arrived at Dover harbour with the occupants of two migrant boats.
As they were offloaded next to the Border Force migrant processing centre, GB News counted 177 people.

Three hours later, the Border Force vessel Defender entered Dover harbour with migrants visible at both the front and back of the vessel.

GB News's Kent producer said he counted 168 migrants as they were taken to the nearby processing centre.

According to GB News provisional figures, the arrivals so far on Wednesday take the number of migrants who have made the crossing this year to 35,150.

Alarmingly for the Government, the figure is just over 1,500 away from the number who arrived in the UK over the whole of last year.

Maritime sources have said there are still a few days of good weather in the Channel before conditions worsen again, making crossings impossible for the people smugglers.

One senior source said: "If we don't pass last year's total by this weekend, we'll certainly do so in the next clear spell of weather.

"Passing the total for the whole of 2024 with around two-and-half months of the year left to run, is absolutely disastrous for the Prime Minister's 'smash the gangs' policy.

"It's likely to mean we could end the year on a figure close to the record year of crossings in 2022, when more than 46,000 Channel migrants arrived in the UK."

The Government has said there is no single solution that will end the small boats crisis.

Ministers have pointed to agreements with countries like Pakistan and Albania, and the partial returns deal with France.

However, the latest available figures from the Home Office show that so far, just seven migrants have been returned back across the Channel.

Reacting to the continued small boat arrivals, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "These small boat crossings are utterly unacceptable and the vile people-smugglers behind them are wreaking havoc on our borders.

"Thanks to our deal with France, people crossing in small boats can be detained and the first removals have now begun.

"Protecting the UK border is my priority as Home Secretary and I will explore all options to restore order to our immigration system."

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