Channel crossings: Number of migrants arriving in UK since 2018 hits 150,000

London: More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the last seven years.

Since current records began on January 1 2018, 150,243 people have made the journey, according to PA news agency analysis of Government figures.

The milestone was reached when 407 people crossed the Channel in 10 boats on Boxing Day.

On Christmas Day more than 450 people crossed the Channel in 11 boats.

It comes after the Home Secretary said the Government had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings, but refused to set a deadline on when a target to see the numbers fall “sharply” would be met.

Yvette Cooper said the UK must “go after” the gangs behind the dangerous crossings, during a visit to Italy where she met the country’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, to discuss migration.

As she faced questions from the Commons Home Affairs Committee, which she previously led as chairwoman, for the first time since being appointed Home Secretary, she appeared to rule out creating more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers as a way of preventing crossings.

While the UK would always “need to do its bit”, this was not “an alternative to going after the criminal gangs”, she said.

She also told MPs she was “determined to keep making progress” on reducing the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers, saying they were “completely inappropriate and extremely costly”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has put international co-operation with law enforcement agencies in Europe at the heart of his bid to cut the number of arrivals.

More than 22,324 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since Sir Keir walked into Number 10 when Labour won the election in July.

He previously said his Government “inherited a very bad position”, with record numbers of migrants in the first half of the year, “because the entire focus until we had the election was on a gimmick, the Rwanda gimmick, and not enough attention was on taking down the gangs that are running this vile trade”.

But “if the boats and the engines aren’t available, it obviously makes it much more difficult for these crossings to be made”.

He had previously vowed to “treat people smugglers like terrorists”, as he announced extra funding for his border security command.

Setting out his “plan for change” in December, Sir Keir repeated promises to cut immigration, but stopped short of setting any targets.

Immigration did not feature in the six “milestones” he announced, so that voters could “hold our feet to the fire”.

So far this year 35,898 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, provisional Home Office figures show.

This is up 22% on this time last year, but down 22% on 2022.

Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency said it is leading about 70 live investigations into organised immigration crime or human trafficking.

Some 50 people have died while trying to cross the Channel this year, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard, in what is considered the deadliest year since the crisis unfolded.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has also reported several more migrant deaths believed to be linked to crossing attempts so far in 2024.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel has steadily increased since 299 people were detected in 2018.

In December that year then home secretary Sajid Javid cut short a Christmas break to return to the UK and take charge of the unfolding crisis.

He declared a “major incident” in the wake of 40 migrants making the journey on Christmas Day, and 12 more arriving days later.

There were 1,843 crossings recorded in 2019 and 8,466 in 2020, according to the Home Office.

A record 45,774 people made the journey in 2022 compared with the 28,526 recorded for the whole of 2021.

In 2023, 29,437 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel.