Small-boat arrivals have surpassed 2,000 since Andy Burnham entered Downing Street, including the year’s busiest crossing day, placing immediate pressure on his government’s claim that its border strategy is succeeding.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
More than 2,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Prime Minister Andy Burnham took office two weeks ago, ensuring that Britain’s long-running border crisis remains one of the most immediate challenges confronting his new Labour government.
The total reached 2,057 after 326 migrants traveled from the French coast and arrived in Britain on Saturday in boats coordinated by people-smuggling networks.
The number narrowly exceeded the 1,962 migrants recorded during the equivalent period in 2025, according to ITV reporting. Although the increase was limited, the continuing flow has complicated Labour’s repeated assertion that its immigration enforcement strategy is producing results.
Burnham’s first weeks in office have also included the busiest Channel crossing day of the year. Authorities brought 752 migrants ashore Wednesday during a 24-hour period.
Approximately 14,526 people have made the journey since the beginning of the year. Burnham has emphasized that the overall number remains lower than during the same period last year and has continued supporting the approach developed under his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer.
The new prime minister nevertheless pledged over the weekend to intensify the government’s response as the issue threatened to dominate coverage of his first days in Downing Street.
During an appearance in Dover, one of the main arrival points for small boats crossing the Channel, Burnham said his administration would be “relentless” in attempting to reduce the crossings.
His comments focused partly on public confidence in the government’s control of the border.
“The public don’t like the idea that the border looks like it’s not controlled,” Burnham said. “We need to bring back that control, but also we need to offer support for people who genuinely need it.”
“Slowly but surely we are putting in place those building blocks of a very different approach to this issue. It’s working, but there’s more to be done.”
Burnham inherited Labour’s pledge to target the criminal organizations arranging small-boat crossings on both sides of the Channel. Starmer had promised to “smash” the smuggling gangs before being removed by his own party in an internal Westminster leadership revolt.
That strategy replaced the Conservative government’s plan to transfer migrants arriving illegally by boat to processing centers in Rwanda.
Starmer canceled the Rwanda program after taking power. The plan had already faced years of legal challenges in Britain and intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, which prevented it from becoming operational.
Britain remains subject to the ECHR despite leaving the European Union because the court is separate from the EU’s institutional structure.
The Rwanda dispute later took another turn when the European Parliament approved a proposal allowing member states to send asylum seekers to processing facilities in third countries. The change could permit EU governments to use centers in Rwanda similar to those previously designated for migrants arriving in Britain.
Nigel Farage, leader of the opposition Reform Party, has argued that attempts to dismantle individual smuggling organizations cannot solve the problem because other criminal groups will take their place as long as the trade remains profitable.
Reform has proposed withdrawing Britain from the ECHR, removing all migrants living illegally in the country and preventing foreign nationals from receiving welfare benefits. The party says those policies would reduce incentives attracting migrants to Britain and restore the government’s authority over deportations.
The party has also called for deployment of the Royal Navy in the English Channel to stop additional small boats from reaching British territory.
The arrival figures during Burnham’s first fortnight show that the Channel crisis has persisted through another change in leadership. While Labour points to a lower year-to-date total than in 2025, more than 2,000 arrivals in two weeks and a single-day high of 752 have placed renewed scrutiny on the government’s claim that its current plan is working.
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