'Shameful' figure but pace slowed in last 2 months

A TOTAL of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK by small boat last year as efforts to stop the crossings were ramped up.

- BY DAVE BURKE Political Correspondent

The Home Office figure is 13% higher than the 36,816 who made the journey the previous year but below the 2022 record of 45,774.

A spokesman said: "The number of small boat crossings are shameful and British people deserve better. This government is taking action."

For much of 2025, the number of Channel crossings was running at the highest level since data was first published in 2018.

But the pace slowed in the last two months of the year and there were periods when no migrants arrived, including a 28-day run from November 15 to December 12.