Longest gap in Channel crossings by migrants so far this year

No migrants have been recorded crossing the English Channel for 11 days, the longest gap so far this year.

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.

Bad weather is likely to have played a role in stopping migrants from attempting to reach the English coast.

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.

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.

Channel crossings in 2025 are no longer running at record levels.

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.

This year’s total of 36,954 has already passed the number 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.”

Elsewhere, the UK’s Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt told MPs last month that officials believe they are starting to see an impact on what they are doing in how smugglers have shifted their methods to get people across the Channel.

The border chief, who leads the cross-government response to small boats, however admitted that work to stop the smuggling route was “always going to take time”.

Legislation to crack down on smuggling gangs, including by handing counter terror-style powers to law enforcement agencies, is currently going through Parliament.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has described the small boat crossings as “utterly unacceptable” and said people smugglers are “wreaking havoc on our borders”.

“Protecting the UK border is my priority as Home Secretary and I will explore all options to restore order to our immigration system,” she said.