Channel crossings crackdown bearing fruit, Mahmood claims amid summer lull

Two small boats hug the coastline near Ault in France in June, as people thought to be migrants are collected along the coastline before an attempt to cross the Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA) - (PA Wire)

The Home Secretary has claimed the Government’s crackdown on small boats is beginning to “bear fruit” after the combined total number of boat crossings over the summer months fell to its lowest since 2019.

Some 102 small boats brought migrants over the English Channel between June and August this year, a lower number than any year since 2019, when 57 vessels made the journey.