Illegal aliens

UK Small Boat Crossings at 7-Year Low

Is border control finally working under Labour, or do the official numbers hide the real picture?

22 hours ago·Updated 19 hours ago

Story

Above: A group of people are brought in to the Border Security Command compound in Dover, Kent, on Aug. 17. Image credit: Gareth Fuller/PA Images/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-government narrative

Border control is finally working. Foreign worker registrations are at a 20-year low, net migration is collapsing, and small boat crossings are down from their peak. The real fix is simple: fund deportations properly and tear up the 1951 Refugee Convention that hands criminal gangs their legal playbook.

Fraser Nelson's Notebook

Right narrative

Labour trumpets record-low boat numbers, yet the truth is grimmer: smugglers now cram more migrants onto fewer vessels, average loads have doubled since 2021, and Burnham's daily arrivals already outpace Starmer's.

GB News

Left narrative

The Labour Party needs to stop chasing Reform's policies of performative cruelty. Pandering to the right with harsh on immigration stands will only create a more vulnerable underclass of refugees and increase resentment against minorities.

The New Statesman