January migrant crossings up 13% on previous year as 1,335 crossed Channel last month

Wednesday saw 278 people arrive in the UK after making the journey in six boats

The number of migrants crossing the Channel is up 13% compared to this time last year, figures show (PA)

The number of migrants crossing the Channel is up 13 per cent compared with this time last year, figures show.

Some 1,335 people arrived in the UK after making the journey from France in January, according to provisional Home Office data. This is compared with the official monthly total of 1,180 recorded in January 2023.

The total for January 2024 is just slightly lower than the number of arrivals in the first month of 2022 (1,339), figures show.

That was the highest January total since records began in 2018 and marked the start of a year when a record 45,774 people crossed the Channel.

The figures come a day after migrants were pulled from the sea as they were rescued while trying to cross the Channel.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent (PA)

Wednesday saw 278 people arrive in the UK after making the journey in six boats, the Government data shows.

Earlier this week Downing Street said there were “variations” in the number of crossings taking place but it was “too early to say what the trend is for this year”, when asked whether Rishi Sunak was on track to achieve his pledge to “stop the boats”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman made a similar assertion on Thursday, adding: “On the rolling 12-month stats we’re still down significantly and there is a great deal of work going on with our French counterparts.

“Yesterday we talked about getting more drones in the air on the French side and I’m sure there will be further work both with France and at the EU level as well.”

Officials do not think the stalled Rwanda policy is having the “full deterrent effect” yet because the powers are not yet in force, he added.

Home Secretary James Cleverly met his French counterpart, Gerald Darmanin, for the first time in Paris on Tuesday, with the pair agreeing to wider and more regular use of drones in sky patrols to monitor migrants attempting to make the journey as part of existing agreements in a bid to curb Channel crossings.

At the start of the year Mr Cleverly – who set himself a target of meeting Mr Sunak’s “stop the boats” pledge by the end of 2024 – insisted the weather was not a “contributory factor” to last year’s falling number of migrant crossings.

The decrease was instead because of co-operation with Europe, disrupting the supply chain of engines and boats, and “going after the money of these people smugglers”, he said, as the Government argued the figures were evidence of the UK’s £480 million agreement with France to beef up efforts to stop migrants making the journey starting to pay off as well as the effectiveness of a fast-track returns deal struck with Albania.

But the Immigration Services Union, which represents border staff, said the drop in arrivals was likely to be a “glitch”, with “higher numbers” of Channel crossings expected this year.

The 2023 provisional annual total, 29,437, was 36 per cent lower than 2022, but was still the second highest annual total on record, above the figure for 2021 (28,526).

The Home Office said: “Our priority is to stop the boats, which is why we have taken robust action to crack down on vile people smuggling gangs, deter migrants from making dangerous crossings and, alongside our French counterparts, intercept vessels.”