GB News can exclusively reveal that the first small boat of 2026 has made it to UK shores after crossing the Channel in sub-zero temperatures.
Around three dozen illegal migrants reached the UK just days after it was revealed that 2025's total reached a staggering 41,427.
The People's Channel understands several other attempted crossings were abandoned due to freezing weather conditions.
Multiple migrants have been treated in French hospitals for hypothermia.
Temperatures in Calais dipped to as low as -1C today, with conditions feeling closer to -4C in places.
Meanwhile, Dover recorded lows of -3C as residents in the Kent town woke up to conditions feeling closer to -7C.
Previous attempts to cross the Channel in freezing conditions have proved tragic, with five migrants dying in January 2024 when a small boat carrying 70 people capsized.
Another disaster in November 2021 resulted in 31 migrants being killed.
Around three dozen illegal migrants reached the UK just days after it was revealed that 2025's total reached a staggering 41,427
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Cold conditions will likely remain in place across the next few days, with the Met Office issuing yet more snow and ice warnings on Tuesday.
Temperatures will drop to as low as -4C on the south coast in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
However, the first wave of arrivals puts more pressure on Sir Keir Starmer's Government to get a grip on the Channel crossing crisis.
Reform UK's Chief Whip Lee Anderson told GB News: "Is there any wonder that the illegal migrants will keep coming now this spineless treacherous Government is now looking at building social housing for illegal migrants who cross the Channel. This invasion is never going to end under this Government.
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Lee Anderson and Chris Philp responded to the fresh arrivals with fury
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"The migrants will continue to arrive, our women and girls will continue to be attacked, our communities will continue to be under siege from backward cultures and the bill for all this will be footed by the decent, hardworking Brits."
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp added: "These New Year illegal immigrants show the Government has no control of our borders whatsoever.
"They are putting up illegal immigrants in hotels and allowing 95 per cent of illegal Channel migrants to remain here.
"The Prime Minister has admitted that the UK has no deterrent. No wonder illegal immigrants continue to flood in - and many of them go on to commit sex offences against women and girls.
A group of people thought to be migrants are escorted up the beach in Dungeness, Kent | PA"The only way to fix this is the Conservative plan: come out of the ECHR and deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. Then the crossings will stop."
Meanwhile, the Centre for Migration Control's research director Rob Bates called on the Home Office to introduce a stronger deterrent to curb crossings.
"It is bad news for Starmer that migrants are not being deterred by the freezing conditions, and suggests that 2026 could be a bumper year for Channel crossings", Mr Bates told GB News.
"The Government has no meaningful plan to address the situation and whilst ministers continue to dither, the people smugglers are enjoying a surge in demand.
Sir Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood have come under increasing pressure to get a grip of the small boats crisis
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"We need a strong deterrent in place but instead officials are spending billions of pounds on comfortable accommodation, free phones, and leisure activities for those who break into our country."
Almost 65,000 illegal migrants have crossed the Channel in Sir Keir's first 18 months in power, leaving the Prime Minister just short of Boris Johnson's total over his 39-month premiership.
Despite Sir Keir witnessing more sporadic arrivals than his predecessors, the Labour leader averages around 118 per day.
The figure compares to 58 daily arrivals under Mr Johnson, with Rishi Sunak's record standing at 81 per day.
Small boat migrants continue to cross the Channel under Sir Keir Starmer, taking the total to 194,000
|GB NEWS
However, Sir Keir fares better than Liz Truss after the former Tory leader's short-lived stint in No10 was rocked by more than 10,000 arrivals, averaging out at 212 per day.
The total number of illegal migrants who have crossed the Channel since the crisis started in 2018 now stands at 194,000, roughly the same size as York.
Despite Labour being at risk of surpassing yet another grim milestone, the Home Office maintains it is doing everything in its power to smash the gangs.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood last year hailed Sir Keir's returns deal with France, claiming the "one-in, one-out" deal would serve as a deterrent to those hoping to reach Dover from Calais.
The Prime Minister is also hoping to close migrant hotels faster than expected and the Home Office today unveiled plans to seize mobile phones from small boat migrants.