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Attempts by migrants to cross the English Channel in small boats resumed on Saturday, ending a four-week lull during which no arrivals were recorded on Britain’s southern coast.
According to Home Office data, the 28-day gap is the longest pause in small boat crossings for seven years and is thought to have been caused by prolonged poor weather conditions.
The last confirmed arrivals before the weekend took place on November 14. While several small boats were spotted in the Channel on Saturday, official figures on the number of people who reached the UK are expected to be released later.
Crossings across the Channel remain a highly sensitive political issue in the UK, dominating debate around immigration and border control.
The continued flow of migrants has contributed to growing support for Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, which has consistently held a double-digit lead over Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government in opinion polls throughout much of the year.
Despite the recent pause, 2025 is on track to record the second-highest annual total of small boat arrivals since official records began in 2018.
More than 39,000 people have already made the journey this year, many of them fleeing war and instability.
That figure has already surpassed the total number of arrivals recorded in 2024, although it remains below the all-time high of 45,774 crossings registered in 2022, when the Conservative Party was in government.
