LONDON: The number of migrants who arrived in Britain on small boats fell steeply in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2025, figures showed on Wednesday.
Migrant arrivals after crossing the English Channel were 41 per cent lower for the first six months of 2026, according to the latest data published by the UK interior ministry.
The figures are welcome news for the centre-left Labour government as it tries to stem support for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party, which has led national opinion polls for months.
They come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer enters his final weeks in office, with veteran politician Andy Burnham expected to succeed him later this month.
Some 11,884 migrants arrived between January and June, down from the 19,982 who had reached the UK by this point last year, the Home Office data showed.
The numbers were down 12 per cent on the 13,489 who arrived in the first six months of 2024, when the main opposition Conservative party was in power.
The Labour government has signed several deals with other countries designed to reduce the number of irregular migrants arriving on its shores in rudimentary vessels.
In April, it agreed a three-year deal with French authorities to pay £662 million ($879 million) to support beach patrols as part of efforts to drive down arrivals.
In July 2025, Britain signed an agreement with Germany in which Berlin committed to cracking down on storage facilities used by migrant smugglers to conceal small boat parts.
The following month it struck a deal with Iraq that aimed to speed up the return of migrants with no legal right to live in the UK.
