Most people arriving on small boats are refugees

WE are hearing an awful lot about “boat people”, “illegal immigrants” and asylum seekers these days, with a lot of misconceptions and misinformation being put about. So let's get a few facts straight.

- Francis Kirkham

People arriving by boats are only illegal if they don’t claim asylum when they get here. Almost all of them do: 94% to 99% of those arriving since 2018 did.

The overall success rate of these claims was 68% between 2018 and 2024, when appeals against initial refusal were taken into account, showing that most people arriving by small boats are genuine refugees, escaping from danger and persecution in their own countries.

The success rate of the “boat people” is very similar to those arriving by other means.

We are led to believe that a large proportion of refugees want to come to Europe and to the UK specifically “why don’t they claim asylum in the first safe country they come to?” In fact, the vast majority don’t want to travel far and do seek refuge in the nearest safe country.

We are told that we take more than our fair share of refugees, compared to other countries.

In fact, the UK is home to only 1% of those displaced across the world.