Illegal crossings into UK from English Channel rose by 25% in 2024, shows govt data

At a time when Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage is looking forward to disrupting the British politics on the back of anti-immigrant politics, the government data has showed that illegal crossings from the English Channel rose by up 25 per cent in 2024.

The rising illegal crossings are bound to put Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer under pressure, who has been struggling in recent days to build a coherent narrative around his governments’ agenda.

The government data released on Wednesday (December 1) showed that 36,816 were detected crossing into the United Kingdom from English Channels in small boats in 2025. It marked an increased by 25 per cent from the previous year.

However, the number is less than 45,774 recorded in 2022.

Since coming to power in landslide election victory in July, Starmer has struggled to formulate a narrative around immigration. While he scrapped the previous Rishi Sunak government’s Rwanda plan, he has not been able to come up with a convincing alternative. Instead of coming up with a plan like Sunak’s, which he called a “gimmick”, Starmer said that he would focus on cracking down on human smuggling gangs who smuggle people into the UK from English Channel.

Even though there have been waves of raids and crackdowns on people illegally staying in the country and establishments housing such people, the numbers of illegal entries have not gone down. Moreover, there has also been criticism of plans reported in the media which say that up to 60,000 people who illegally entered the UK would be granted citizenship.

To tackle the crisis, the British and German governments signed a joint action plan last month. However, as most of the crossings happen from France, the pact is unlikely to have a big impact on the situation.

Among those crossed into the UK in 2024, Afghans were the largest group at 17 per cent, followed by people from Vietnam, Iran, and Syria.

Such a situation allows for far-right figures like Farage to score political points at the cost of mainstream parties. He has already emerged as a political disruptor and immigration figures are bound to serve as a fodder for his political rhetoric. Just like his friend Donald Trump in the United States, anti-immigrants agenda is at the core of his political platform.