The Home Office said 898 people were brought ashore in Dover on Wednesday, bringing the annual total so far to 25,436…reports Asian Lite News
More than 25,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel so far in 2025, the first time that number has been reached as early as July, according to official figures. The Home Office said 898 people were brought ashore in Dover on Wednesday, bringing the annual total so far to 25,436.
Since the government started releasing the numbers of arrivals in 2018, the earliest the annual total reached 25,000 was on 27 August in 2022. The government said it was sharing intelligence and strengthening cross-border co-operation with France to tackle people smuggling gangs, and on Thursday the National Crime Agency announced it had worked with Bulgarian authorities to seize 25 small boats intended for use in the Channel.
In the whole of 2020 there were 8,461 crossings, and in 2019 that number was 1,835. In 2018 there were 297 people recorded making the journey, although figures were only published from 3 November.
The dates on which 25,000 people made the crossing in previous years are: 2021 – 20 November, 2022 – 27 August, 2023 – 2 October, 2024 – 4 October. The annual total for 2025 hit 10,000 at the end of April, and 20,000 by the end of June.
Also in June the government released figures highlighting the increased number of days with favourable weather for making the journey in 2024 and 2025.
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. 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.”
The population of England and Wales is estimated to have jumped by more than 700,000 in the year to June 2024, the second-largest rise in more than 75 years, figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said almost all of the increase was due to international migration, despite it being lower than the previous year at 690,100 compared with 833,700 in the 12 months to June 2023.
Natural change – where there are more births than deaths – accounted for only a small proportion. The estimates suggest there were 61.8 million people in England and Wales in June 2024, up 706,881 from 61.1 million in mid-2023.
The number of people living in England and Wales has risen annually since mid-1982, with migration contributing most to the growth every year since mid-1999. Before then, natural change was the main reason for growth.
The rise in the year to June 2024 is the second-biggest year-on-year jump in population since at least 1949 – the earliest comparable ONS data. Tackling immigration has been a key challenge for both the previous Conservative and current Labour governments.
Labour said the estimates published on Wednesday “confirm the truth of the Tory legacy on immigration”. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Under the Tories, overseas recruitment shot up while training in the UK was cut, lower-skilled migration soared while the proportion of UK residents in work plummeted and hundreds of thousands of people were given visas to arrive and stay in the UK.”
She said net migration had “come steeply down” under Labour, there were now tighter controls on visas and stronger requirements to link the points-based immigration system to skills and training. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp acknowledged the numbers were “far too high” and “the pressure on housing and social cohesion is unacceptable”.
He said: “Under new leadership the Conservative Party has put forward serious, workable policies to get immigration numbers dramatically down.” Leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, said the figures were “disastrous for the quality of life for everyone in the country. It puts impossible pressures on public services and further divides our communities”.
