Small boat crossings to the UK have almost halved, while irregular crossings to Europe are down almost 40 per cent so far this year, The Independent can reveal.
Analysis of Home Office data shows 12,469 people had arrived in the UK on small boats by 10 July this year – down 43 per cent from 2025, when 21,690 people had made the perilous journey across the English Channel in the same period.
