New year, new immigrants: the first boats of 2025 are intercepted trying to cross the English Channel after 36,816 arrived last year

The first migrants of 2025 have been intercepted by officials attempting to cross the English Channel, as newly released figures show almost 37,000 people arrived in the UK last year.

Images that emerged on Saturday morning showed dozens of migrants being picked up at sea by Border Force and arriving in Dover aboard a patrol boat.

Migrants attempted to cross even as temperatures hovered just above freezing ahead of a cold snap across the UK this week.

The latest arrivals in Britain follow 36,816 people crossing the Channel in small boats in 2024, a 25 per cent increase on the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, according to provisional Home Office figures.

The crossings continue even when the number of deaths reported has increased sixfold as callous smugglers adopt even riskier tactics to maximize their profits.

At least 77 people died on the dangerous sea route in 2024, compared to 12 in 2023, according to French officials, making it the worst year on record as total crossings increased by a quarter.

Campaigners have urged the UK government to publish data on migrant deaths as it does not currently confirm any figures.

The evidence suggests that migrants cross in increasingly dangerous boats and with little or no safety equipment.

The first immigrants of 2025 have been intercepted by officials trying to cross the English Channel

Newly released figures show almost 37,000 migrants arrived by small boat last year.

Images that emerged on Saturday morning showed dozens of migrants being picked up at sea by Border Force and arriving in Dover aboard a patrol boat.

An average of 53 people arrived in each boat last year, compared to 49 in 2023 and 41 in 2022.

The gangs have almost completely eliminated the sturdiest, rigid-hulled boats with adequate motors in favor of larger, flimsier boats, described by one senior police official as “little more than a kiddie pool.”

Migrants are often given poor quality life jackets, including those that do not work in deep water or are designed for children. A group was seen holding rubber rings.

Another factor believed to be driving the rise in deaths is the use of riskier crossing routes, in which smugglers leave a wider area of ​​the French coast to try to avoid patrols.

The Refugee Council said last night that ministers appear to have “accepted that coercive measures against smuggling gangs have made travel more dangerous”.

The charity said the Government, together with the French, should publish quarterly data on the number of deaths, including their age, sex and nationality.

He also urged ministers to draw up a plan to reduce lives lost and set out a plan to review and expand safe and legal routes to the UK.

Chief executive Enver Solomon said: “The record number of deaths in the English Channel this year should serve as a stark reminder that the current approach is not working.”

Footage from Dover today shows dozens of migrants being escorted off the Border Force vessel.

Border Force officials picked up the migrants at sea as they attempted to cross the English Channel.

‘Smuggling gangs are profiting from men, women and children forced to live in life-threatening conditions, and coercive measures alone are not enough to address this problem.

‘Safer and legal routes are needed to provide a lifeline to those fleeing war and persecution…

“The Government must take a different approach if it is to ensure that everything possible is done to ensure that last year’s devastating loss is not repeated in 2025.”

However, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the Mail that legal and safe routes “won’t stop crossings unless we let in everyone who wants to come to the UK, which is patently ridiculous.” .

“It is therefore deeply disingenuous for the Refugee Council to suggest that safe and legal routes are a solution for Channel crossings.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘Every life lost at sea is a tragedy, which is why our efforts are focused on saving lives as well as protecting our borders.

‘People smuggling gangs only care about profits and we are seeing their behavior adapt, with more people crammed into flimsy and dangerous boats.

“Our joint work with France to prevent crossings aims to prevent people from putting themselves and others at risk.”

Some 36,816 people crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2024, a 25 per cent increase on the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, according to provisional Home Office figures.

However, the total is 20 percent below the record of 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

This week the Home Office revealed new plans to impose travel and social media bans on suspected people smugglers in a bid to dismantle organized immigration crime networks.

Ministers will speed up the process of imposing restrictions on those being investigated through the use of ‘interim’ Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs).

Suspects could be banned from travel, access to your phone or money, and prohibited from associating with certain people.

The Home Office said the approach, which will form part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, will help tackle people smugglers at an early stage.

Interim orders could also be used to tackle a range of other organized crime offences, including drug trafficking, fraud and prostitution, which are already covered by SCPOs.

SCPOs are court orders that can prevent, restrict or interrupt a person’s participation in a serious crime.

Getting a full SCPO can be a lengthy process, but the new interim version will allow action to be taken while the maximum order is being considered.

National Crime Agency police and other law enforcement agencies will be able to apply to the High Court to impose immediate restrictions.

Interim orders can be made without conviction and failure to comply could lead to up to five years in prison.

Interior Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Dangerous criminal human traffickers are profiting from undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.”

‘They cannot be allowed to get away with this. Closer international collaboration has already led to significant arrests and action against dangerous gangs in recent months.

‘We will give law enforcement the stronger powers they need to pursue and stop more of these vile gang networks.

“Border security is one of the foundations of this Government’s Plan for Change, which includes making people better off, delivering safer streets and strengthening our NHS, and we will do everything in our power to meet the goals of the workers”.