No small boat migrants have entered the UK in the past seven days, according to the latest Government figures. The most recent date on which people arrived in the UK after making the journey by boat was October 22, according to the latest Home Office data.
The 11-day gap in arrivals from October 23 to November 2 beats this year’s previous longest gap, which was the 10 days from August 27 to September 5. In the same period from October 23 to November 2, 2024, a total of 2,741 migrants arrived in 56 small boats.
Storm Benjamin brought heavy rain and strong winds to northern France and the Channel on October 23, with further wet and blustery weather on subsequent days, which has been suggested as a contributing factor to the drop.
In late October 2024, Storm Ashley hit the UK, with strong winds cancelling events on the south coast on October 20, 2024, as reported by the Met Office: “…The Great South Run, scheduled to take place in Portsmouth on the 20th, was cancelled due to fears that the less strong winds forecast for the south coast could threaten the safety of the course.”
It added: “As the month closed out, pressure was building across the UK at the start of what looked like an extended anticyclonic spell that would last well into the first half of November.”
This year, Channel crossings in 2025 are no longer running at record levels, though they are still higher overall than 2024 and 2023.
The cumulative number of arrivals this year, 36,954, is 7% below the total at this point in 2022 (39,929).
Some 45,774 migrants arrived in 2022 – the highest number in any calendar year since data on Channel crossings was first collected in 2018.
However, this year’s total of 36,954 has already surpassed the numbers for the whole of 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437).
Separate figures show 75 migrants have now been returned to France under the Government’s “one in one out” deal, while 51 have arrived in the UK under the scheme.
The Home Office confirmed on Friday that a flight returned 20 people to the continent on October 30, with a further 13 transported the previous week.
The pilot scheme was agreed with France as a way to deter migrants from coming to the UK in small boats across the English Channel, alongside other efforts by the Government to clamp down on illegal working and return more people with no right to be in the UK.
The UK-France deal, which came into force in August, means people who arrive in the UK by small boat can be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of people who apply through a safe and legal route.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his approach to stopping small boats is on course after a migrant re-entered the UK by small boat for a second time on October 18, a month after he was returned to France.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has criticised the scheme for sending a “handful of immigrants” back to France, adding: “This is clearly no deterrent at all.”