Only five people have been convicted of piloting small boats across the English Channel this year despite Labour’s pledge to crack down on smugglers and more than 119 dinghies containing a record 6,642 migrants making the journey. The Telegraph has more.
At least 119 dinghies have arrived in Britain from France in the past three months, with the numbers increasing amid warmer weather and calmer seas.
Despite all of the boats requiring someone to operate the outboard engine and steer, just five people who made the journey this year have been charged and convicted.
In total, a record 6,642 people crossed the Channel in small boats this year in 119 vessels, Home Office data show.
Since the start of the year, the Home Office confirmed that only five individuals have appeared in court charged with the offence.
A spokesman said: “Since January 1st 2025, CFI Immigration Enforcement has convicted 17 individuals for piloting a small boat, including five who committed the offence in 2025.
“In 2024, 64 individuals were convicted.”
Last month, the Telegraph revealed that the rate of migrant Channel crossings under Sir Keir Starmer had been higher than under any of his Conservative predecessors.
The record number of 6,642 migrants have reached the UK this year, up from 4,600 at the same point in 2024.
It has coincided with a doubling in the number of ‘red days’, when the calm weather and sea conditions are conducive to crossings from 16 to 34, compared with the same period in 2024.
Smuggler behaviour has changed over time, with dinghies embarking on the 21-mile trip from Pas-de-Calais to Kent, cramming ever more people on board.
It was previously assumed that the maximum number of migrants capable of being crowded onto a single small boat was 50.
However, the average number of migrants in each of the 119 recorded boats that crossed this year was 56, compared with 53 last year and 49 the year before.
Last year was also the deadliest in the Channel, with at least 78 fatalities. …
Richard Tice, Deputy Leader of Reform UK, said: “This is another absurd example of our failed justice and immigration system.
“Every single illegal migrant should be immediately charged with breaking the law upon arrival and detained. Instead, our public sector is riddled with woke Lefty sympathisers”.
Lee Anderson, Mr Tice’s colleague, called for a national emergency to be declared to tackle the small boats crisis.
He said: “Starmer promised to smash the gangs but all he has done is smash the records set by the previous government.
“It is time for a national emergency to be declared as I had asked for three years ago”.
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