UK Channel small boat crossings hit seven-year summer low

The number of small boats carrying migrants across the Channel to the UK this summer fell to a seven-year low, the UK government said on August 31, as ministers cited a new enforcement deal with France.

The Home Office said the combined number of boats making the trip in June, July and August was the lowest for those summer months since 2019. The PA news agency reported that around 102 small boats crossed the Channel in that period, compared with 57 in 2019.

An AFP tally of official figures showed 7,371 migrants crossed on small boats over the summer, the lowest migrant total for the period since 2020, the Home Office said.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would keep targeting criminal gangs behind the crossings and remove incentives for people to use “unsafe and illegal routes.”

London and Paris signed a three-year agreement in April under which the UK agreed to pay up to 766 million euros, or $897 million, to support French law enforcement.

The pace of crossings has slowed, but more migrants have been travelling in single boats. Earlier in August, 230 migrants crossed in one long dinghy, after a previous record of 165 people was set in July.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to visit Britain this week, with migrant crossings expected to be among the issues he discusses with the UK's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.