𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the English Channel – the second highest annual figure on record.

The Home Office confirmed on Thursday that no migrants made the journey on New Year’s Eve, continuing a run of no crossings over the festive period.

It means the overall number of arrivals last year finished 9% below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.

The total for 2025 was 13% higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41% higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.

For much of 2025, the number of arrivals was running at the highest level since data on Channel crossings was first published in 2018.

But the pace slowed during the last two months of the year and there were long periods when no migrants arrived, including a 28-day run from November 15 to December 12.

The average number of people per boat rose again in 2025, continuing a trend that has been under way since 2018.

There were an average of 62 arrivals per boat last year, up from 53 in 2024 and 49 in 2023.

The Government faced increasing pressure in 2025 to tackle the number of migrants making the hazardous journey across the Channel, having won the general election in July 2024 vowing to “smash the gangs” of people-smugglers that organise the crossings.

Nearly 65,000 migrants have arrived in the country by small boat since Labour came to power.