Channel migrant crossings soar by 25% in 2024 in deadliest year ever, as Labour push to 'smash' smuggling gangs
1 January 2025, 08:40 | Updated: 1 January 2025, 12:25
The number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats rose by 25% in 2024, with last year the second-busiest ever for the dangerous route.
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Some 36,816 people crossed to the UK in dinghies in 2024, an increase of a quarter from 2023, when 29,437 arrived via the same route, according to provisional Home Office figures.
Some 53 people died making the crossing over the past 12 months according to French authorities, which meant that 2024 was the deadliest ever for the route.
But the total is down 20% on the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022, however.
The last crossings of the year took place on December 29, when 291 people made the journey from France in six boats.
The Home Office recorded no further crossings for the remaining two days of 2024, amid blustery weather conditions.
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It means 2024 saw the second highest number of arrivals in a year since data on Channel crossings began in 2018.
The total was comparatively low in both 2018 (299) and 2019 (1,843), before climbing to 8,466 in 2020, 28,526 in 2021 and a record 45,774 in 2022.
It then fell in 2023 to 29,437, before rising in 2024 to 36,816.
The jump in crossings came in a year that former prime minister Rishi Sunak had to accept he failed to meet his vow to "stop the boats" when the Conservatives were defeated by Labour in the general election.
The change in government also meant former home secretary Suella Braverman never got to see her "dream" of sending migrants to Rwanda become reality, after the policy stalled amid legal action and was then ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.
Her successor James Cleverly never succeeded in his bid to get flights off the ground, despite bringing fresh legislation back to Parliament and signing another treaty with the east African nation in a bid to firm up the agreement and satisfy concerns raised by the court.
Some 13,574 migrants arrived in the UK between the start of 2024 and the general election on July 5, according to analysis of Home Office data.
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It was a record number for this period of the year and was 19% higher than the 11,433 who arrived between January 1 and July 5 in 2023, as well as being 5% higher than the 12,900 who arrived in the equivalent period in 2022.
The number of arrivals between the general election and the end of 2024 was also higher than the equivalent period in 2023, but lower than the figure for 2022.
Some 23,242 migrants arrived between Labour's victory on July 5 and December 31, up 29% on the 18,004 arrivals in this period in 2023 and down 29% on the 32,855 in 2022.
At his first press conference after entering Number 10 as Prime Minister in July, Sir Keir Starmer said the deportation plan was "dead and buried", with Labour swiftly meeting one of its manifesto pledges by scrapping the scheme.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last month said the Government had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings but refused to set a deadline on when a target to see the numbers fall "sharply" would be met.
Ms Cooper said the UK must "go after" the gangs behind the dangerous crossings and appeared to rule out creating more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers as a way of curbing the number of attempts when facing questions from MPs.
Sir Keir has put international co-operation with law enforcement agencies in Europe at the heart of his bid to cut the number of arrivals.
The Prime Minister previously said his Government "inherited a very bad position" with record numbers of migrants in the first half of last year "because the entire focus until we had the election was on a gimmick, the Rwanda gimmick, and not enough attention was on taking down the gangs that are running this vile trade".
But "if the boats and the engines aren't available, it obviously makes it much more difficult for these crossings to be made", he said.
His comments follow him previously vowing to "treat people smugglers like terrorists" as he announced extra cash for his new border security command.
The National Crime Agency said it is leading around 70 live investigations into organised immigration crime or human trafficking.
The year 2024 was considered the deadliest for Channel crossings, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard, with 53 people dying while embarking on the journey across the busiest shipping lane in the world to reach the UK.
The International Organisation for Migration has reported several more migrant deaths which are believed to be linked to crossing attempts last year.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour has "lost control of our borders" and made a "catastrophic mistake" in cancelling the Rwanda scheme.
"These figures make clear Labour has totally failed on illegal immigration by small boat," he said.
"Numbers have sky-rocketed since the general election. Over three times more illegal immigrants crossed in December this year compared to last year - an insult to the British people.
"The National Crime Agency warned that a removals deterrent was needed, and the law enforcement alone would not be enough. This means Labour made a catastrophic mistake by cancelling the Rwanda removals to deterrent before it even started."
He added: "Labour's claim to smash the gangs is nothing new. That was happening already, and Labour voted against measures to increase prison sentences for these very same gangs when they were in an opposition."
There are usually more small boat arrivals in the second half of the year because the weather in summer and autumn is generally more favourable, with days on which the wind and wave levels in the Channel are most conducive to crossings referred to as "red days".
Home Office sources said there were 88 such days in the second half of 2024 compared with 50 in the second half of 2023, citing this as the key reason for the difference in the number of arrivals between those periods.
There were 11 red days in the final three months of 2023, which was the lowest number for any quarter since records began, while 41 in the same period between October and December was the highest since 2020, according to Government analysis.
A Home Office source said: "The Tory government failed to take our border security seriously. They let criminal gangs take hold all along our borders and, on their watch, small boat crossings grew from just a few hundred in 2018 to tens of thousands by the time they left office.
"They spent an eye-watering £700 million to send just four volunteers to Rwanda - the failed scheme was more of a distraction than a deterrent.
"Labour is fixing our border security, with a new Border Security Command backed up by an additional £150 million and 100 new specialist investigators to go after the evil smuggling gangs making millions out of small boat crossings."
