(File image) Border Force officers helping migrants in the Channel (Image: PA)
Migrant crossings of the English Channel plummeted to zero for the past seven days despite “benign” weather conditions. Latest Home Office figures show none of the dangerously flimsy so-called small boats has attempted the perilous journey on the busy waterway from July 13 to July 20.
Drones and helicopters are now being used to monitor the beaches and an additional 30 maritime officers and a new vessel has been launched to tackle the ‘taxi boats’ used by smugglers to get migrants to the larger vessels for the crossing. A Home Office spokeswoman told the Daily Express there was now a “40% increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers to track down and stop illegal migrants boarding boats”.
Recent figures do appear to back up a trend, with 53 illegal migrant boats being seized by French authorities in May, but a further 29 did make it to the UK uncontested.
(File image) French police with migrants on a beach in northern France (Image: Getty)
The Home Office said it was “bearing down on small boat crossings”, adding: “We have signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars.
The spokeswoman added: “This builds on joint work that has stopped over 45,000 attempted crossings since the election.
“Almost 70,000 people who were here illegally have been removed or deported – an increase of 41% – and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country.”
In the past, French cooperation over the migrant crisis has been viewed as sometimes laissez-faire, with police pictured in the past six months watching on as boats packed with asylum seekers leave French beaches bound for Britain.
There’s even been blame levelled by the French towards the UK for the crisis, with one Calais mayor previously branding Britain a “soft touch” and a former French interior minister had the cheek to claim it was an “English issue” only.
As of year end 2025, 46,497 illegal entries into the UK were detected and 89% came via the Channel from boats launched off the shores of our European neighbours, mostly France, but numbers are down for the first half of this year.
(File image) Around 11,800 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK this year (Image: Getty)
Between January and June this year than 11,800 have entered the UK illegally via small boats, compared to a record 19,000 for the same period in 2025. The nationalities of migrants crossing in 2026 includes Afghans, Eritreans, Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians, and Vietnamese.
Around 2,000 mostly male migrants arrive each month in the UK, but the sudden drop-off appears to suggest something is suddenly stemming the immigration tide.
Forecaster Jim Dale, from British Weather Services, said the lack of crossings was unlikely to be due to bad conditions has the weather had been “benign” over the Channel for the past few weeks. More crossings usually take place when the weather and visibility is better.
He said: “I can’t see any weather reasons for the drop in numbers.”
Reform UK have campaigned strongly on securing Britain’s borders and stopping illegal migration, but when asked about the zero numbers this week a party spokeswoman said it was not something Reform would comment on.
Chris Philp MP, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Keir Starmer oversaw more illegal Channel crossings than any other Prime Minister – that is the legacy Andy Burnham is inheriting. One week of minimal crossings does not make up for that record, and it has far more to do with high waves in the Channel than with any grip on the problem.
“The new Prime Minister has surrounded himself with open-borders activists and is reportedly capitulating to his left-wing backbenchers on ILR reform before he has even got started. It doesn’t matter who Labour have in charge they will never take the necessary steps.
“Only the Conservative Party has a clear plan to deport illegal arrivals and remove all foreign national offenders to tackle illegal immigration for good.”
(File image) French police and the NCA have been acting to stop the migrant boats (Image: Getty)
Another reason for the drop could be a number of recent successes at home and aborad for Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
In May more than 30 boats and engines, 360 pumps and more than 9,000 life jackets destined to be used in people trafficking in the Channel were seized in an NCA operation with local police in Germany. In a similar operation in June, 25 boats bound to be used for migrant crossings were seized in a joint sting with authorities in Bulgaria.
“We are determined to do all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle them, wherever they operate – in source countries, in transit countries, near the UK border, and those operating inside the UK itself.
“We have also taken the fight against organised immigration crime further upstream to locations like Iraq and Libya, working with partners to target criminal networks who are impacting the UK, but are operating in places where they previously thought themselves untouchable.
“The Agency currently has around 100 ongoing investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime, those inflicting the highest harm, and who are the most difficult to reach.”
(File image) Border Force officers helping migrants in the Channel (Image: PA)
Migrant crossings of the English Channel plummeted to zero for the past seven days despite “benign” weather conditions. Latest Home Office figures show none of the dangerously flimsy so-called small boats has attempted the perilous journey on the busy waterway from July 13 to July 20.
Drones and helicopters are now being used to monitor the beaches and an additional 30 maritime officers and a new vessel has been launched to tackle the ‘taxi boats’ used by smugglers to get migrants to the larger vessels for the crossing. A Home Office spokeswoman told the Daily Express there was now a “40% increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers to track down and stop illegal migrants boarding boats”.
Recent figures do appear to back up a trend, with 53 illegal migrant boats being seized by French authorities in May, but a further 29 did make it to the UK uncontested.
(File image) French police with migrants on a beach in northern France (Image: Getty)
The Home Office said it was “bearing down on small boat crossings”, adding: “We have signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars.
The spokeswoman added: “This builds on joint work that has stopped over 45,000 attempted crossings since the election.
“Almost 70,000 people who were here illegally have been removed or deported – an increase of 41% – and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country.”
In the past, French cooperation over the migrant crisis has been viewed as sometimes laissez-faire, with police pictured in the past six months watching on as boats packed with asylum seekers leave French beaches bound for Britain.
There’s even been blame levelled by the French towards the UK for the crisis, with one Calais mayor previously branding Britain a “soft touch” and a former French interior minister had the cheek to claim it was an “English issue” only.
As of year end 2025, 46,497 illegal entries into the UK were detected and 89% came via the Channel from boats launched off the shores of our European neighbours, mostly France, but numbers are down for the first half of this year.
(File image) Around 11,800 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK this year (Image: Getty)
Between January and June this year than 11,800 have entered the UK illegally via small boats, compared to a record 19,000 for the same period in 2025. The nationalities of migrants crossing in 2026 includes Afghans, Eritreans, Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians, and Vietnamese.
Around 2,000 mostly male migrants arrive each month in the UK, but the sudden drop-off appears to suggest something is suddenly stemming the immigration tide.
Forecaster Jim Dale, from British Weather Services, said the lack of crossings was unlikely to be due to bad conditions has the weather had been “benign” over the Channel for the past few weeks. More crossings usually take place when the weather and visibility is better.
He said: “I can’t see any weather reasons for the drop in numbers.”
Reform UK have campaigned strongly on securing Britain’s borders and stopping illegal migration, but when asked about the zero numbers this week a party spokeswoman said it was not something Reform would comment on.
Chris Philp MP, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Keir Starmer oversaw more illegal Channel crossings than any other Prime Minister – that is the legacy Andy Burnham is inheriting. One week of minimal crossings does not make up for that record, and it has far more to do with high waves in the Channel than with any grip on the problem.
“The new Prime Minister has surrounded himself with open-borders activists and is reportedly capitulating to his left-wing backbenchers on ILR reform before he has even got started. It doesn’t matter who Labour have in charge they will never take the necessary steps.
“Only the Conservative Party has a clear plan to deport illegal arrivals and remove all foreign national offenders to tackle illegal immigration for good.”
(File image) French police and the NCA have been acting to stop the migrant boats (Image: Getty)
Another reason for the drop could be a number of recent successes at home and aborad for Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
In May more than 30 boats and engines, 360 pumps and more than 9,000 life jackets destined to be used in people trafficking in the Channel were seized in an NCA operation with local police in Germany. In a similar operation in June, 25 boats bound to be used for migrant crossings were seized in a joint sting with authorities in Bulgaria.
“We are determined to do all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle them, wherever they operate – in source countries, in transit countries, near the UK border, and those operating inside the UK itself.
“We have also taken the fight against organised immigration crime further upstream to locations like Iraq and Libya, working with partners to target criminal networks who are impacting the UK, but are operating in places where they previously thought themselves untouchable.
“The Agency currently has around 100 ongoing investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime, those inflicting the highest harm, and who are the most difficult to reach.”