Ministers are going to "have to work harder" to bring down small boat crossings, a member of Sir Keir Starmer's Cabinet has said amid record numbers in the first half of this year. Pat McFadden told LBC "everyone in Government knows it's a big challenge", as the tally for 2025 nears 20,000.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster declined to give an assurance that the figures would be down by this time next year. He said: "We are going to have to work harder to bring the numbers down."
Government faces mounting pressure
When pressed specifically on whether the numbers would be down by this time next year, McFadden said: "I'm not going to make a prediction." Asked again for an assurance that the numbers will reduce, he added: "I can give you an assurance that the numbers at the moment are too high. We are working together to tackle this."
Figures released on Tuesday confirmed a record number of crossings for the first half of the year. Some 19,982 migrants had arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing by the end of June, latest Home Office figures show.
Record-breaking crossing numbers revealed
The total is 48% higher than the figure for the first six months of 2024, which was 13,489, and 75% above the equivalent figure for 2023, which was 11,433. Some 879 migrants made the journey in 13 boats on Monday, the third highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.
Data collection on the Channel crossings began in 2018. The figures also come as the UK's borders watchdog David Bolt said in June he did not feel "very optimistic about the ability to smash the gangs", adding that with organised crime "the best thing you can do is deflect it to something else you're less concerned about rather than expect to eradicate it".
(PA/London) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
