Almost 1,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats on one day this week, Government figures show. Data from the Home Office indicated 919 people made the journey in 14 boats on Friday (June 13), pushing the provisional annual total to 16,183.

This is 42% higher than at the same point last year and 79% up on the same date in 2023, according to analysis by the Press Association news agency. It isn’t the highest daily number so far this year. That was on May 31, when 1,195 people arrived.

A graph shows the numbers of migrants crossing the English Channel between 2023-25 (Image: PA)

People believed to be migrants were pictured being brought into Dover on an RNLI lifeboat on Friday, while others were brought ashore by Border Force.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp posted on X that another 1,000 “illegal immigrants” had entered the country. He accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of being “too weak to implement a removals deterrent”.

Mr Philp wrote: “Every single one of these illegal immigrants should be immediately removed to a location outside Europe And no, Darren, they’re not mostly women and children.”

He was referring to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, who said on this week’s Question Time that the majority of people in the small boats are children, babies and women.

Mr Jones faced criticism for his remarks and later sought to clarify he was talking about a single boat which arrived when he visited UK Border Security Command.

Mr Jones posted on X: “Of course the overall majority of people arriving illegally on small boats are men – but not ‘north of 90%’ as Reform claimed.

“On BBC Question Time, I shared a story from my visit to the Border Security Command about a dinghy that arrived mostly carrying women, children and babies who had suffered horrific burns. I’m happy to clarify this given how this is now being misrepresented.”

Analysis of Home Office data by the Press Association indicates adult males made up 73% of small boat arrivals from January 2018 to March 2025 in cases where details of age and sex were recorded. A further 9% of these arrivals were adult females and 16% were under 18.

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, and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

“That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage, and why we are investing up to an additional £280million per year by 2028-29 in the Border Security Command.

“Through international intelligence-sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.”