Major small boats replace as ‘hundreds of Channel crossings prevented’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs that 22,000 small boat crossings had been prevented thanks to enforcement measures, but warned tackling the problem is ‘fiendishly difficult’
Shabana Mahmood said thousands of small boat crossings have been prevented(Image: PA Wire)
More than 20,000 small boat crossings have been prevented thanks to steps the Government has taken, Shabana Mahmood has told MPs.
The Home Secretary pleaded for patience as she said preventing dangerous crossings is “fiendishly difficult” to resolve. But she pointed to agreements with France, Germany and China which she said will make an impact.
However she declined to promise numbers would go down in 2026 compared to 2025, when 41,472 arrivals were recorded. Ms Mahmood told the Home Affairs Committee that numbers were unacceptable and need to come down.
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She said: “What I would say is this is a fiendishly difficult problem to to resolve., and it does require, a full spectrum response. If there was a silver bullet here, I promise you, I would have triggered it already. There isn’t. So you do have to, I’m afraid, do the much more long term, careful, painful work of trying to resolve every bit of this problem.
“It’s why, dealing with boat engines, and getting that agreement with China is important. The Germans have passed a law on, warehouse storage of boats because we know that’s a problem. Getting another government to prioritise a piece of legislation they don’t need for themselves. But which would help us a lot, is a big thing.”
Last week the UK and China struck an agreement to work together and tackle the supply of engines used for small boats. Around 60% of boats used for crossings have Chinese-manufactured engines, the Home Office has said.
And in December German lawmakers closed a post-Brexit loophole that introduced 10 year jail terms for criminals trying to smuggle people to the UK. Ms Mahmood said: “The measures we’ve taken already with a law enforcement approach, I think has stopped something like 22,000 crossings.
“So, I appreciate the numbers aren’t good for where we are, and I want them to come down much more quickly. But without the action we’re taking, they would be even higher.”
Pressed on whether the number of crossings will have gone down by this time next year, Ms Mahmood said: “I would love to be in that position, but I can’t guarantee I’m going to be in that position.”
The Home Secretary said the Government would be going harder on law enforcement measures and ramping up removals.
She said 305 people have been removed to France under a breakthrough one-in-one-out returns deal struck in the summer, with 367 people coming in. Ms Mahmood hit back at suggestions the French authorities were not serious about tackling crossings.
The Home Secretary said: “There are real community cohesion problems in the north of France. Those issues around criminality, the camps and all of the issues that are connected to that.
“So I think there is there is an interest about dealing with this problem.” And she continued: “I don’t think the French want to have organised crime operating in this way on their territory either, because that brings other problems for them as well.
“So I think there has been a political will. We got an agreement. I mean, that was in itself a breakthrough.”
