Small boat arrivals to the UK will increase by 25% in 2024, data shows.

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Government data on Wednesday showed the number of migrants arriving in Britain across the English Channel rose by a quarter in the past 12 months compared to last year.

Provisional figures released by the Home Office show a total of 36,816 people arrived in the UK by small boat in 2024, a 25% increase on the 29,437 who arrived in 2023.

The tally will put pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who pledged during last year's general election to crush the gangs that control the smuggling trade, to tackle illegal migration.

Immigration and asylum are now the second most important issue for voters after the economy, ahead of health, according to a tracking survey by research firm YouGov.

The latest totals make 2024 the second-highest year for Channel crossings since 2018, when data was first collected. However, it is down 20% from its peak in 2022, when 45,774 people arrived.

The last crossing took place on December 29, when 291 people departed from France in six ships. Bad weather made the crossing impossible for the last two days of the year.

Former Conservative chancellor Rishi Sunak was forced to admit he had failed to keep his promise to stop the boats after his party suffered its worst-ever defeat at the general election in July.

In the first half of this year, up to voting day on July 4, record numbers of immigrants arrived compared to similar periods in previous years.

Some 13,574 migrants arrived in the UK during this period, up 19% on the same period the previous year and 5% on the same period in 2022, according to analysis of Home Office data by the PA news agency.

After the Labor Party's landslide victory, the number of arrivals by the end of 2024 was higher than the same period last year, but decreased compared to the same period in 2022.

Last year was considered the deadliest year for Channel crossings, according to data from the French Coast Guard. Fifty-three people have died crossing the world's busiest shipping lane, with some campaign groups estimating the figure is higher.

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said ministers had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings, but refused to set a deadline for the government's pledge to sharply reduce numbers.

Starmer claimed Labor inherited a very bad position from the previous Tory administration, which he accused of being too focused on tactics to eliminate asylum seekers arriving in Rwanda in small boats.

Upon entering Downing Street, he scrapped the controversial plan before it began and shifted Britain's focus to deeper cooperation with European allies and international law enforcement agencies.

The latest figures show an average of 53 migrants arrived per boat in 2024, four more than in 2023 and a sharp increase on 2018, when the average boat had seven people.

Last year the number of people arriving in the UK by small boat was lower than in Italy, Spain and Greece.

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