More small boat migrants have arrived during Sir Keir Starmer’s time in Downing Streetthan under any other prime minister. With 219 migrants reaching the UK on Sunday, Sir Keir’s total hit 65,922, overtaking the previous high of 65,811 under Boris Johnson. The record under Sir Keir has been reached in just over 19 months, compared with three years under Mr Johnson. The Channel crisis has now entered its ninth year. The first small boat crossing was recorded on January 31, 2018, and by the end of that year then home secretary Sajid Javiddeclared it a ‘major incident’.

The total number of migrants to have reached Britain now stands at more than 193,000. One of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts in office after the 2024 general election was scrapping the previous government’s Rwanda asylum deal. The programme had been designed to deter crossings – and save lives – by sending migrants to the east African country to claim asylum there rather than here. Labour’s flagship policy is a ‘one in, one out’ deal with France which allows a small number of migrants to be sent back across the Channel.

However, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted to MPs last week that the deal has ‘obviously not dented the numbers yet’. She also revealed that so far 367 migrants have been brought into the UK under the reciprocal terms of the treaty and only 305 have been removed. The scheme has ‘probably not’ affected migrants’ decisions to cross the Channel, she said, and they ‘may well be banking on it not working or not being able to be scaled up’. She also declined to give a commitment that Labour’s asylum reforms will start to see a fall in the number of small boat arrivals by next year.

There were 41,472 small boat crossings last year compared with 36,816 in 2024. Asked whether she could confidently say numbers would go down by this time next year, Ms Mahmood said Labour’s reforms would ‘take some time to come into effect’, adding: 'I can't guarantee I'm going to be in that position.’ When PM Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Macron announced their ‘one in, one out’ deal last summer it was suggested it would see 50 migrants a week sent back to France.

In fact, it has averaged about a dozen per week. It is being operated as a pilot scheme and the agreement is due to expire at the end of June. The treaty which has allowed the 'one in, one out' scheme is unlikely to be renegotiated at that stage, experts suggest, because France will be looking ahead to its presidential election next spring.