UK Politics
10,000 Small Boat Arrivals Since Burnham Took Office as Channel Crossings Surge
More than 10,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since Andy Burnham became PM, as 1,600 arrived in four days and Reform UK hit back.
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News | By Matt, Editor
More than 10,000 people have now crossed the Channel in small boats since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister on 20 July, according to an analysis by GB News.
The milestone came after a weekend surge ended a lull of more than two weeks. Home Office figures show 1,193 people arrived on 16 boats from Thursday to Saturday. GB News reported a further 480 on Sunday, a figure the Home Office had yet to confirm. (Home Office daily figures)
Key facts
- GB News puts Mr Burnham’s total at 10,139 since 20 July, an average of 97.5 a day.
- Home Office data show 263 arrivals on Thursday 29 October, 671 on Friday and 259 on Saturday.
- Sunday’s 480, reported by GB News from Border Force and RNLI activity, was not yet in the official figures.
- Crossings this year are down 39% on the same point in 2025, GB News says. The year is on course for the fewest arrivals since 2021.
- Even so, 22,608 people have crossed so far in 2026.
- Labour’s total since the July 2024 general election stands at 87,259.
How Burnham compares with his predecessors
GB News says Mr Burnham’s daily rate is worse than the averages recorded under Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak. It is only a little below Sir Keir Starmer’s, whose 77,183 arrivals worked out at 103.6 a day.
The figure under the Conservatives finished at 127,896 between January 2018 and July 2024. Labour’s 87,259 since the 2024 election is roughly the population of Grimsby or Guildford, the broadcaster noted.
Mr Burnham defends his record by pointing to the year-on-year fall. In his conference speech in September he said: “People arriving on small boats down 40 per cent on the last year, 50 per cent from the early 2020s.” That fall is real. It stood at 39% on 1 November.
The four-day surge came after more than two weeks with no arrivals. As we reported on Thursday, boats were back in the Channel with thousands waiting in camps on the French coast.
A row over Brexit at the top of government
The surge also lands in the middle of a split between the Prime Minister and his own Home Secretary. On Monday 26 October, Mr Burnham blamed Brexit for the crisis on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “The reason the small boats crisis has arisen is because we can’t return people, and people know we can’t do that in the same way that we used to be able to do,” he said. (The Independent)
Hours later, Shabana Mahmood told MPs: “The Dublin regulation, of which we were part; in our last five years in it, we did not deport as many people as we managed to under our agreement with France.” In Britain’s last years under the Dublin rules, it took in 3,830 people and sent out only 1,253, GB News reported. We set out the receipts on Burnham’s Brexit claim last week. For background on the man now running the country, read our Who Is Andy Burnham? profile, and for the wider picture on the numbers, read our small boat crossings explainer.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020. Joint efforts with international partners have prevented over 50,000 crossing attempts and seized 1,100 boats and engines since the election. But we must go further. That’s why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.” (Daily Mail; GB News)
What Reform UK said on X
Reform UK figures posted throughout the surge, from Thursday 29 October to Sunday.
Reform leader Nigel Farage posted on Sunday: “Over 1,200 illegal migrants have broken into Britain since Thursday. Dutch economists found each illegal migrant costs their taxpayers’ £330,000. The UK Government’s MAC has cited this research. So, our lack of borders since Thursday will cost us roughly around £396,000,000.” That figure is his own estimate, based on Dutch research.
Reform’s shadow home secretary, Zia Yusuf, wrote on Sunday evening: “10,000 illegal migrants have broken into Britain by boat since Andy Burnham became PM. More on the way.” Earlier that day he pledged: “Reform will reverse this invasion. We will put the Royal Navy in the Channel so not one more makes it to our shores.”
On Friday, Mr Farage posted video of what he called “chaos in the Channel”, saying a lifeboat at Dungeness had 80 people on board and asking: “Does @AndyBurnham care?” Reform’s shadow chancellor, Robert Jenrick, shared the same message and video that evening.
Mr Farage also seized on the boat that left Belgium painted in Kurdish colours, which we reported on Friday. “We’re being invaded from Calais, Normandy – and now Belgium too,” he said. “I will deploy the Royal Navy and stop the boats forever.”
The Reform UK party account attacked “the politicians that want a return to free movement” on Thursday night. Reform chairman and Ashfield MP Lee Anderson wrote on Sunday: “1200 illegals have arrived over the past few days.” He added: “Only @reformparty_uk MPs are fighting this whilst Labour MPs support it.” For Reform’s wider attack on the Home Secretary, see our report on Mahmood’s settlement climbdown.
Our view
This section is opinion.
Credit where it is due: crossings are down 39% this year. But 10,000 arrivals in barely 15 weeks is not a record any Prime Minister should be proud of. Nor is a daily rate that only just beats Starmer’s.
Mr Burnham promised to be relentless. Instead, he spent last week blaming Brexit while his Home Secretary contradicted him in the Commons. The figures back her, not him. Britain took in more people under Dublin than it ever sent back.
The smugglers know a lull is just a pause for good weather. The moment the sea calmed, more than 1,600 people came in four days. Until there is a real deterrent, the weekend surges will keep coming. Reform says it would send in the Royal Navy. Labour has offered more officers in France.
Should the Royal Navy be deployed in the Channel to stop the small boats? Vote below.
Sources
- GB News, Jack Walters, 1 November 2026
- Home Office, Migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats and last 7 days
- Home Office spokesman statement, via GB News and the Daily Mail
- The Independent on Burnham’s Brexit remarks; GB News on the Dublin figures
- Posts on X by GB News, Nigel Farage, Zia Yusuf, Robert Jenrick, Reform UK and Lee Anderson
- Featured image: Photo: PA. Dinghy photo: UK Home Office, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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