Overview
- A further 219 people crossed the Channel in three boats on Sunday, taking the 2026 tally to more than 1,000.
- Arrivals during Keir Starmer’s premiership now total 65,922, surpassing the 65,811 recorded under Boris Johnson.
- The Home Office says nearly 60,000 people have left the UK in the past 19 months, including about 43,000 voluntary departures and more than 15,000 removals, a 45% rise on the previous comparable period.
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs the UK–France pilot has not dented numbers, noting 367 people brought to the UK under the treaty and 305 removed, and she cautioned she cannot guarantee a fall in arrivals by next year.
- The 'one in, one out' scheme was trailed at about 50 returns a week but has averaged roughly a dozen and is running as a pilot until the end of June, while Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticised the approach and blamed ECHR constraints.