Channel Crisis: Illegal Boat Migration Soars to Record High Despite Tough Talk from Leftist UK Government
Illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel are occurring at a record pace since the start of the year, despite the left-wing Labour government’s pledge to end the crisis.
In less than three months, over 5,000 illegal aliens have been recorded reaching British shores after crossing the Channel in small boats launched from the beaches of France.
“We have to call a halt. A 10 million rise in the last 20 years has devalued the quality of life for everybody, damaged us culturally, broken up our communities, broken up our sense of patriotism, and belief. And you know what? Not everything is about big business employers.”I cannot remember the last time I saw six police officers together in Britain. But here they are, arresting two parents, in front of their children, for complaining about their local school in a Whatsapp group. Britain is completely and utterly lost. It used to be the home of… pic.twitter.com/racQv3OE83
— Matt Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) March 28, 2025
This week, laying out his Reform UK party’s agenda in the Daily Mail, Farage said they would seek to put a “freeze” on immigration with the goal of “zero per cent population increase through immigration.”
The party would also leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which the UK is still a member of despite Brexit, as it is technically separate from the EU. The ECHR has frequently been used to block the deportations of illegal aliens, migrant criminals, and even terrorists from the UK. Illegal migration over the English Channel has soared to record highs, with over 11,500 having reached British shores from the beaches of France, the highest level for this time of the year since the crisis began. This comes despite Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer vowing to “smash the gangs” and bring the migrant crisis to an end during last year’s general election. Meanwhile, a report from the Times of London suggested that the government’s projections on a decline in legal immigration were vastly underestimated and that the UK will likely see a net migration (the number allowed in minus the number who left) of around 525,000 per year from 2028 onwards, or a city the size of Edinburgh added to the country every year. This represented nearly 200,000 more than the government had expected annually. According to the report, the post-Brexit immigration system pushed through under Boris Johnson has resulted in more non-EU migrants, who are more likely to remain in the country than European migrants. The failure of both Labour and the Conservatives to stem mass migration has led to soaring popularity for Farage’s Reform party, which is coming off of a historic victory in the local England elections earlier this month. The latest survey from Find Out Now, found that Reform currently stands at 33 per cent support, compared to 20 per cent for Labour and 16 per cent for the Conservatives. If the poll were to be reflected in a general election, Reform would secure 365 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 80, meaning that the Farage party is on pace to become the next government in 2029.