A new record has been set for the number of people crossing the English Channel in a single small boat, with 128 individuals making the perilous journey on Friday.
This vessel was one of three that brought a total of 225 people across the Channel that day, according to Home Office data.
The previous record for a single boat stood at 125 people, set in September 2025.
The figure, initially reported by the BBC, prompted a Home Office spokesperson to state that smuggling gangs are “taking greater risks than ever, with the number of people they are cramming into unseaworthy boats rising year on year.”
Despite this new peak for individual vessels, broader data indicates a decline in the overall number of migrants attempting the Channel crossing.
Home Office figures reveal that 11,884 migrants arrived in the six months from the beginning of January to the end of June.
This is 41 per cent lower than the total that had reached the UK by this point last year, which was 19,982.
It is also down 12 per cent on the 13,489 who arrived in the first six months of 2024.
The steep drop is likely to reflect a number of factors including the weather, the supply of small boat parts, Government policy, and the flow of migrants into Europe from elsewhere in the world.
In April, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a three-year agreement with French authorities to pay £662 million to support beach patrols as part of efforts to drive down arrivals.
Ms Mahmood is also seeking to overhaul the asylum system to deter crossings and deport people easier, including proposed changes to make refugee status temporary.
Looking further back, this year’s figure for January-June of 11,884 is 4 per cent higher than the equivalent number in 2023 (11,433) and 7 per cent below the figure in 2022 (12,747).
While the number of arrivals has fallen so far this year, the number of migrants arriving per boat has climbed to a new high, averaging 65 per craft over January to June.
The average across the whole of last year was 62 migrants per craft, while the figure for January-June 2025 was 58.
