Latest statement in response to small boat crossings

A Home Office spokesperson said:

“We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020.

“We are taking action, with joint efforts preventing over 48,000 crossing attempts and seizing 1,100 boats and engines since the election.

“But we must go further, which is why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.”

Background:

• Year-to-date arrivals are approximately 42% lower than the same point last year, while the number of boats has now fallen to 49% below last year's levels.
• Border Security Command officials have met with their French counterparts, who reassured they remain fully committed to preventing small boat launches and will increase their focus and activity along the Western coast in light of this week’s events.
• Joint work with the French has prevented over 48,000 crossing attempts since the election, and 61% of all small boat events in the first three months of the UK-France deal. Nearly 1,050 French officers are now supporting UK-France efforts to stop crossings, with an additional new surge team bolstering operations on Western beaches.
• The average number of small boat arrivals on days forecast to have favourable crossing conditions fell by 38% by the end of August to their lowest level since 2021, and have almost halved from their peak in 2022.
• The number of NCA officers working on immigration crime has doubled since the start of 2025. Thanks to the efforts of all our enforcement and intelligence agencies, we have disrupted smuggling gangs on more than 5,600 occasions and seized 1,100 small boats or engines over the same period. Arrests for organised immigration crime surged by 74% between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
• This government will continue to use all available powers, like the new endangerment offence, to bring criminals facilitating crossings to justice and restore order and control to our borders. 17 small boat pilots in three months have already been jailed for endangering lives at sea.
• Over 80,000 people with no right to be in the UK have been removed or returned since the election, a 52% increase. Removals of foreign national offenders, including murderers and rapists, are up by 36%, with nearly 12,000 returned since the last election.