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Ministers have unveiled plans for new curbs to target people smugglers, including travel bans and social media blackouts, after data showed a 25 per cent rise in the number of migrants arriving in the UK via the English Channel last year.
New interim serious crime prevention orders would be introduced as part of an upcoming border security, asylum and immigration bill in a push to dismantle organised immigration crime networks, the UK government said on Thursday.
“We will give law enforcement stronger powers they need to pursue and stop more of these vile gang networks,” said home secretary Yvette Cooper.
The announcement came after provisional Home Office figures on Wednesday showed that 36,816 people came to Britain via small boats in 2024, a rise of a quarter on the 29,437 who arrived in 2023.
The tally will heap additional pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to tackle irregular migration, after he pledged in the general election campaign last year to “smash the gangs” controlling the smuggling trade.
Immigration and asylum is now the second most important issue to voters after the economy, beating health, according to a tracker poll by research company YouGov.
Under the government’s proposals, the National Crime Agency and police will be able to apply directly to the High Court for interim orders to impose immediate restrictions on suspected people smugglers while full orders are considered — a lengthier and more complex process.
These powers to disrupt and deter suspected serious criminality will mirror existing measures used to fight knife crime, slavery and trafficking.
An interim order could include a ban on computer or mobile phone usage, a ban on accessing social media networks, including via a third party, a ban on associating with named individuals, and restrictions on finances. Breaching an interim order would be punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years.
The latest government statistics on Channel crossings make 2024 the second-highest year for arrivals since data was first collated in 2018. But this is down 20 per cent on the peak year of 2022, when 45,774 people arrived.
The final crossings of 2024 happened on December 29, when 291 people made the journey from France in six boats. Poor weather conditions prevented crossings on the last two days of the year.
Former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak was forced to admit he had failed in his promise to “stop the boats” after the Tories suffered their worst ever defeat at the general election in July.
In the first part of the year, up until polling day on July 4, a record number of migrants crossed compared with similar periods in previous years.
A total of 13,574 migrants arrived in the UK during that time, up 19 per cent on the equivalent period the previous year and up 5 per cent on the same period in 2022, according to analysis of Home Office data by the PA news agency.
After Labour’s landslide victory, the number of arrivals until the end of 2024 was also higher than the previous year but lower than the same period in 2022.
Last year was considered the deadliest for Channel crossings, according to data from France’s coastguard service. It found that 53 people died while making the journey across the busiest shipping lane in the world, and some campaign groups estimate that figure to be higher.
Cooper said ministers had a moral responsibility to tackle Channel crossings but has refused to put a deadline on the government’s vow to ensure numbers fall “sharply”.
Starmer insisted Labour had “inherited a very bad position” from the previous Tory administration, which he accused of focusing too heavily on a “gimmick” of removing asylum seekers arriving on small boats to Rwanda.
On entering Downing Street he scrapped the contentious scheme before it had launched, shifting the UK’s focus towards deeper co-operation with European allies and international law enforcement agencies.
Chris Philp, Tory shadow home secretary, accused Labour of having “lost control of our borders” and making a “catastrophic mistake” in cancelling the Rwanda scheme.
“These figures make clear Labour has totally failed on illegal immigration by small boat,” he said.
The statistics show that an average of 53 migrants arrived per boat in 2024, four more than in 2023, and a sharp increase on 2018 when the average boat carried seven people.
The number of people arriving in the UK by small boats last year remained below that of Italy, Spain and Greece.