Nearly 30,000 migrants crossed the Channel from mainland Europe to Britain in small boats in 2023, an annual decline of more than a third, according to government data released on Monday.
But unauthorized arrivals of 29,437 people to the south-east English coast are still the second-highest annual number since authorities began publishing numbers in 2018.
The dangerous voyages in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes have become a political headache for Britain’s Conservative government, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowing last year to “stop the boats”.
A promise to reduce the persistently high number of migrant arrivals, one of five key pledges he has made for 2023, could trouble the Tory leader as he attempts to win this year’s general election.
Sunak said last month that there was no “firm date” for delivering on his pledge.
Responding to Monday’s figures, his Downing Street office pointed to a 36 per cent drop in small boat arrivals last year, with a record 45,000 migrants expected to make the journey in 2022.