More than 25,000 migrants have been detected crossing the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, according to provisional Home Office data.
A total of 240 people made the journey in four boats on Saturday, taking the provisional total for 2025 to date to 1,893, according to the data.
This brings the total provisional number of migrants to have crossed the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister to 25,135, according to analysis of Home Office data by the PA news agency.
Saturday’s provisional figure was the second-highest in 2025, with 260 migrants detected crossing the Channel on January 13.
A total of 36,816 people crossed the English Channel in 2024.
Last year’s arrivals jumped by 25% from the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, according to the Home Office, but dropped by 20% on the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.
“We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
