Migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats account for 78% of illegal UK entries

More than 28,500 people successfully made the dangerous crossing last year

The UK government has pledged to 'take back control' of Britain's borders. AFP

Migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats now account for more than three quarters of the total number of people illegally entering the UK, new data reveals.

Home Office figures have shown that 28,526 people were detected arriving on small boats in 2021, compared with 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019, and 299 in 2018.

There were 36,792 illegal entries to the UK last year, with migrants using small boats making up 78 per cent.

November had 6,971 small boat arrivals, the highest monthly total in the four years that statistics have been collected.

The Home Office said the crossings, in unsuitable and dangerous craft across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, were a “phenomenon that was rare prior to 2019 but has since increased sharply in number".

About 90 per cent of those arriving in 2021 were male and three quarters were men aged between 18 and 39.

Children under 18 made up about 12 per cent of arrivals, 76 per cent of whom were boys.

It also pointed out that small boat crossings were only one of many methods used to “seek entry without permission” to Britain.

The UK government has pledged to “take back control” of Britain's borders. The vow comes at a time when both the UK and France have sought to blame each other for the situation.

They have been under mounting pressure after 27 migrants drowned off the coast of France in November during an attempted crossing in a boat likened by French officials to a children's inflatable pool.

French President Emmanuel Macron says Britain's failure to establish a legal route to claim asylum in the country is in part responsible for the crisis.

A migrant carries her children on the south-east coast of England after being rescued while crossing the English Channel. AFP

But Britain counters that France is not doing enough to prevent criminal gangs of exploitative people smugglers from launching the small vessels from its northern shores.

About 30 per cent of those arriving in 2021 were Iranian nationals while 21 per cent were Iraqi, 11 per cent Eritrean and 9 per cent Syrian, although information on nationality was not available for many arrivals.

Figures released this week showed the number of asylum claims made in the UK had climbed to its highest in about two decades, while the backlog of cases waiting to be determined continues to soar.

There were 48,540 asylum applications — relating to 56,495 people — in the UK in 2021, up 63 per cent on the previous year and the highest for a calendar year since 2003.

The increase was most “likely linked in part to the easing of global travel restrictions that were in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to a sharp increase in small boat arrivals to the UK”, the Home Office said.