Chris Philp on small boat arrivals, 5 January 2026
The statement
The numbers are going up: 41,000 illegal immigrants crossed the channel last year, a 40% increase on 2023.
Chris Philp, 5 January 2026. Source
What the sources report
- Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2025 reports people arriving by small boat (2025): 41472peoplesrc
- Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2024 reports people arriving by small boat (2024): 36816peoplesrc
- Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2024 reports people arriving by small boat (2023): 29437peoplesrc
- Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026 reports people arriving by small boat (year ending June 2026, latest): 33374peoplesrc
Notes
The Home Office reports 41,472 small boat arrivals in 2025, 13% more than the 36,816 in 2024. It reports 29,437 in 2023.
The latest figure is 33,374 for the year ending June 2026.
Each figure's own page, with every change: People arriving by small boat (2023), People arriving by small boat (2024), People arriving by small boat (2025), People arriving by small boat (year ending June 2026, latest).
Receipts
Archived copies of every source this page repeats, each with its SHA-256 fingerprint.
- Parliament recordStatement source: Chris Philp
- Government publicationHome Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2025: People arriving by small boat (2025)
- Government publicationHome Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2024: People arriving by small boat (2024)
- Government publicationHome Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending December 2024: People arriving by small boat (2023)
- Government publicationHome Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026: People arriving by small boat (year ending June 2026, latest)
- Government publicationHome Office: How many people come to the UK via illegal entry routes (year ending December 2025)
- Government publicationHome Office: How many people come to the UK irregularly (year ending December 2024)
- Government publicationHome Office: How many people come to the UK via illegal entry routes (year ending June 2026)