The number of small boats crossing the English Channel has fallen to its lowest level for seven years this summer, but smuggling gangs appear to be transporting more migrants on fewer, increasingly crowded vessels.
Some 102 small boats carried migrants across the Channel between June and August, the lowest total recorded over the summer period since 2019, when 57 vessels made the journey.
The decline in vessel numbers has nevertheless coincided with a sharp increase in the average number of people travelling on each boat.
Data covering the year to August 27 showed that boats arriving in the UK carried an average of 68 people, more than double the average recorded in 2021.
The figures suggest that people-smuggling networks are adapting their operations by using fewer but larger and more heavily loaded vessels.
A total of 7,371 people crossed the Channel during June, July and August, according to official figures. That was the lowest summer total since 2020, when 3,307 people made the crossing.
In August alone, 2,313 people were recorded crossing, although figures for the August bank holiday Monday had not yet been published.
The latest data come as the Government points to a substantial reduction in the asylum backlog. The number of people awaiting an initial asylum decision at the end of June 2026 had fallen by 56 per cent compared with a year earlier, reaching its lowest level since March 2019.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the figures showed that government measures were beginning to have an effect, while acknowledging that further action was required.
“This Government is committed to restoring order at our border.
“This work is beginning to bear fruit, with June, July and August recording the lowest number of small boat crossings in seven years. But we know there is more to do.
“We will be relentless in targeting the criminal gangs behind these crossings, and we will continue to remove the incentives that draw people here on unsafe and illegal routes.”
The Home Office attributed part of the reduction to increased enforcement co-operation with France, under an agreement that has led to greater French police activity along the northern French coastline.
The Government said joint British and French enforcement operations had prevented more than 48,000 crossing attempts since the 2024 election.
The National Crime Agency and international partners have also seized more than 1,100 boats and engines in an effort to disrupt the supply chains used by people-smuggling networks.
Ministers are seeking to strengthen immigration enforcement further through the Immigration and Asylum Bill, which is being spearheaded by the Government as part of its wider efforts to reduce irregular migration.
The changing pattern of Channel crossings is likely to remain a focus of attention, however, as falling numbers of vessels are accompanied by evidence that smugglers are packing more people aboard each boat.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is due to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Downing Street, with efforts to tackle small boat crossings expected to feature prominently in their discussions.
The latest figures therefore present a mixed picture: the overall number of people making the journey has fallen significantly, but the increasing concentration of migrants aboard individual vessels highlights the continuing challenge facing British and French authorities in disrupting the smuggling gangs organising the crossings.
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