Undocumented Migrants: English Channel
(asked on 17th October 2024) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many migrants have entered the UK in small boats since the general election; and how many entered the UK in small boats in the five months up to the general election.
From 5 July 2024 until 17 October 2024, a total of 13,983 migrants arrived in the UK having crossed the Channel in small boats. Between 5 February 2024 (five months before the election) and 4 July, the total was 12,239.
It has been the normal pattern since the start of the small boat crossing in 2018 for arrivals in the summer months to exceed those in the earlier part of the year.
The table below provides the equivalent figures for the same time periods in prior years.
Year | Arrivals 5 Feb – 4 July | Arrivals 5 July – 17 October |
2023 | 10,035 | 14,683 |
2022 | 11,561 | 24,199 |
2021 | 6,370 | 12,686 |
2020 | 2,399 | 4,802 |
2019 | 547 | 784 |
2018 | 4 | 17 |