More than 36,000 people entered the United Kingdom illegally from English Channel in 2024, which amounts to a 25% surge in illegal crossings, according to official data, Report informs via First Post.
At a time when Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage is looking forward to disrupting the British politics on the back of anti-immigrant politics, the government data has showed that illegal crossings from the English Channel rose by up 25 per cent in 2024.
The rising illegal crossings are bound to put Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer under pressure, who has been struggling in recent days to build a coherent narrative around his governments’ agenda.
The government data released on Wednesday (December 1) showed that 36,816 were detected crossing into the United Kingdom from English Channels in small boats in 2025. It marked an increased by 25 per cent from the previous year.
However, the number is less than 45,774 recorded in 2022.
Since coming to power in landslide election victory in July, Starmer has struggled to formulate a narrative around immigration. While he scrapped the previous Rishi Sunak government’s Rwanda plan, he has not been able to come up with a convincing alternative. Instead of coming up with a plan like Sunak’s, which he called a “gimmick”, Starmer said that he would focus on cracking down on human smuggling gangs who smuggle people into the UK from English Channel.
Among those crossed into the UK in 2024, Afghans were the largest group at 17 per cent, followed by people from Vietnam, Iran, and Syria.