Number of migrants arriving in UK since 2018 hits 200,000

More than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since 2018, figures show.

Dozens of migrants were seen being brought ashore in Dover, Kent, on Friday morning.

The latest crossings pushed the total number of arrivals since current data began to 200,013.

The figure is calculated using the Government’s official statistics for 2018 to 2025 and provisional figures recorded so far this year.

Just over a third of the total, 72,094 (36%), have arrived since Labour took power in July 2024, according to Press Association analysis of Government data.

The remaining 127,919 (64%) made the journey under Conservative governments that spanned four Tory prime ministers: Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

The milestone comes after two women died trying to make the journey on Sunday morning, following the deaths of six people reported in April by French authorities.

Channel crossings so far in 2026 are tracking at a lower level than the previous two years.

There have been 7,380 arrivals so far in 2026, 36% down on this point in 2025 and 16% below this stage in 2024.

Successive governments have tried to work with France to disrupt crossings, as well as revising the rules for claiming asylum in the UK in attempts to deter people from making the dangerous journey.

Meanwhile, Ms Mahmood is seeking to overhaul the asylum system to deter crossings and deport people easier, including proposed changes to make refugee status temporary.

Under the current Labour government, ministers scrapped the Conservatives’ multimillion-pound deal to send migrants who crossed the Channel from France to Rwanda.

Just four volunteers were sent before the policy was ditched.

But the move has prompted a legal battle with the east African nation seeking to sue Britain for more than £100 million claiming it has breached the terms of the agreement and is owed money – something lawyers for the UK deny.

The number of migrants making the journey to the UK started at very low levels, with just 299 arrivals recorded in 2018.

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The annual total increased to 1,843 in 2019, then to 8,466 in 2020, 28,526 in 2021 and 45,774 in 2022, which is the highest number in a calendar year to date.

Arrivals fell to 29,437 in 2023, before rising to 36,816 in 2024 and 41,472 in 2025.

While the volume of migrants reaching the UK across the English Channel has varied from year to year, there has been a steady increase since 2018 in the number of people making the journey per boat.

There were an average of seven migrants per boat in 2018, rising to 11 in 2019, 13 in 2020, 28 in 2021, 41 in 2022, 49 in 2023, 53 in 2024 and 62 in 2025.

The average so far in 2026 is 64.

There is no official record of fatalities in the Channel but 2024 is likely to have been the deadliest year, with 50 deaths recorded by the French coastguard.

At least 17 people died while attempting the journey in 2025, according to reports by French and UK authorities.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has also reported more migrant deaths believed to be linked to crossing attempts.

The first migrant known to have drowned while attempting the crossing was a 31-year-old Iranian woman, Mitra Mehrad, in August 2019.