Home Office figures released on New Year's Day show 36,816 people crossed the English Channel in small boats throughout 2024, an increase on the previous year, but not as many as in 2022. The last group arrived on 29 December,

Sir Keir Starmer oversaw almost a third more migrants crossing the Channel in small boats last year, new Home Office statistics have revealed.

More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the last seven years. Since the current records began on January 1, 2018, 150,243 people have made the journey, according to PA news agency analysis of government figures on Friday.

Some 36,816 people made the journey in 2024, a jump of 25% from the 29,437 who arrived in 2023, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.