UK sees near-record migrant arrivals

LONDON — The second-highest annual number of migrants arrived on UK shores in small boats since records were started, government statistics confirmed on Thursday.

UK Home Office data showed that no small boats were detected on Dec 31, meaning a total of 41,472 migrants landed on England's southern coast in 2025 after making the perilous Channel crossing from northern France.

That figure represents a 13 percent increase compared with 2024. The record of 45,774 arrivals was logged in 2022 under the last Conservative government. The compilation started in 2018.

At least 17 people lost their lives while attempting the Channel crossings in 2025, British media reported, citing French and British authorities.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to tackle the problem by dismantling the people-smuggling networks running the crossings.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood has proposed a drastic reduction in protections for refugees and the ending of automatic benefits for asylum seekers.

The British Home Office in November unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the country's asylum system, under which people granted asylum would be required to wait 20 years before becoming eligible to apply for permanent settlement.

In early December, an interior ministry spokesperson called the number of small boat crossings "shameful" and said Mahmood's "sweeping reforms" would remove the incentives driving the arrivals.

A returns deal with France had so far resulted in 153 people being removed from the UK to France and 134 being brought to the UK from France, border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said.

The past year has seen multiple protests in UK towns over the housing of migrants in hotels.

Amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment, in September up to 150,000 people gathered in central London for one of the largest-ever far-right protests in Britain.

Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high.

Around 111,000 applications were made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures as of mid-November.

Agencies - Xinhua