The British interior ministry announced on Monday that arrivals via small boats to the UK reached a record high in the first quarter of 2024, marking a nearly 42 percent increase compared to last year
British officials processed 5,373 migrants landing on the shores of southeast England in the first three months of the year after crossing the Channel in small vessels, it said.
This compares to 3,793 making the perilous journey from January to March in 2023, a 41.7 percent rise and the highest figure ever for the opening quarter of any year.
Nearly 800 arrived on 16 small boats over just the Easter weekend.
This is a serious political problem for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a general election year, after the embattled Conservative leader repeatedly vowed to “stop the boats”.
He claimed to be succeeding when the annual total fell by around a third last year, but the trend has reversed dramatically so far in 2024.
The interior ministry has said that smugglers organizing the Channel crossings are adapting their methods, using bigger boats and packing more people.
Interior Minister James Cleverly told the BBC this week that the government is now “going after the boats upstream in the supply chain”.
Sunak is also pushing ahead with controversial proposals to deter the cross-Channel journeys by trying to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The UK Supreme Court blocked the plan over safety fears but the government has introduced contentious legislation to override that by declaring Rwanda “safe” and agreeing a new treaty with the east African country.
Flights could take off within months if lawmakers approve the draft law in the coming weeks.
