The number of migrants arriving in the UK via small boats across the Channel reached an all-time high in the first half of 2024, according to data from the interior ministry released on Thursday. During this six-month period, officials recorded 13,489 arrivals, marking an 18 percent increase from the same period in the previous year and the highest number ever recorded in the first half of any year. This figure surpasses the 11,433 arrivals recorded from January to June 2023, highlighting the ongoing challenge for the UK's new Labour government to address public concerns about migration.
The release of these figures coincided with over a week of unrest, labeled as anti-immigration riots, across various parts of England and Northern Ireland, where some violent groups chanted slogans demanding an end to the arrivals. This echoes a failed promise made by the former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was defeated in the recent general election by Labour's Keir Starmer. The riots, which affected more than a dozen towns and cities in England, followed a tragic incident where a group of children were mistakenly targeted by a knife attack blamed on an asylum seeker.
The interior ministry's data further revealed that 81 percent of unauthorized arrivals in the UK between June of the previous year and June of 2024 were via small boats from mainland Europe. Since the UK began tracking these irregular cross-Channel arrivals in 2018, when there were only 11 such cases in the first half of the year, over 133,000 have arrived, with 70 percent being men and approximately 20 percent being minors. Among the arrivals, Afghans accounted for 18 percent, making them the largest nationality group, followed by Iranians (13 percent), Vietnamese (10 percent), Turks (10 percent), and Syrians (9 percent).
The latest statistics also showed an increase in the average number of people per boat, rising from 10 in the year ending June 2019, to 44 in the year ending June 2023, and further to 51 in the most recent period. UK authorities have consistently warned about the evolving tactics of smuggling gangs, who are now using larger boats and cramming more people onboard. Starmer has pledged to dismantle these gangs as a key part of his strategy to address the issue, following the abandonment of controversial Conservative plans to deport migrants to Rwanda.
Additionally, separate statistics indicated progress in reducing the backlog of asylum applications, with the number of individuals awaiting an initial decision on their application decreasing by about a third in the year leading up to June.
