<script src="https://quge5.com/88/tag.min.js" data-zone="191217" async data-cfasync="false"></script>
The last recorded crossing of migrants to the UK across the Channel was on 14 November. After a twenty-eight-day lull, the British Home Office reported on Saturday, December 13, the continuation of these dangerous attempts on improvised boats.
The spokesman of the ministry described this restart of the crossing as “embarrassing”. “British people deserve better”he added, without initially specifying how many migrants had arrived on Saturday.
According to several observers, the four-week hiatus – the longest uninterrupted period without migrant arrivals since autumn 2018 – was due to poor weather conditions.
Also read the report | Article reserved for our subscribers The number of ‘small boat’ migrants crossing the English Channel to reach the UK is increasing
One-for-one agreement with France
Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who promised to “destroy the gangs” smugglers, is trying in vain to reduce the number of migrants arriving on British soil, an issue fueled by pressure from the far-right Reform UK party.
From 1is In January, 39,292 people arrived in the UK in small boats, a figure higher than in 2024 (36,816). These figures are currently below those recorded in 2022 (45,774 arrivals), the record year since the phenomenon began in 2018.
To try to reduce irregular immigration, London struck a deal with Paris this summer to return migrants to France who arrived in the UK on unsafe boats. In exchange for the UK welcoming migrants to France, on a ‘one for one’ basis.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Behind the “one in, one out” agreement signed between France and the United Kingdom, migrants’ lives are on the line
