Despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak‘s pledge to ‘cease the boats’ coming to the UK, the crossings for 2023 are nonetheless the second highest on file.
According to Home Office figures, there have been 29,437 small boat arrivals final yr. This is down from 2022, when the determine was 45,755. Since the beginning of 2018, 114,326 folks have reached the UK after making the harmful Channel crossing. Here are the annual totals for small boat arrivals over the previous six years:
- 2018 – 299
- 2019 – 1,843
- 2020 – 8,466
- 2021 – 28,526
- 2022 – 45,755
- 2023 – 29,437
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Where are they arriving from?
The newest Home Office figures reveal that almost all of arrivals in 2023 got here from battle zones or areas with longstanding considerations about oppression. More than 5,500 had fled Afghanistan, which the Taliban has managed for the previous two years.
The nations most represented in small boat arrivals are:
- Afghanistan – 5,579
- Iran – 3,581
- Turkey – 3,060
- Eritrea – 2,668
- Iraq – 2,549
- Syria – 2,333
- Sudan – 1,633
Nearly 100,000 asylum seekers are nonetheless ready for an preliminary resolution regardless of Tory brags about clearing the backlog. Latest Home Office figures present the UK’s backlog stood at a large 98,599 on the finish of 2023 – 16 instances increased than when the Conservatives took energy.
Labour ‘s Shadow Immigration Minister, Stephen Kinnock, mentioned: “Even their claims to have cleared the so-called ‘legacy backlog’ are false. Over 4,000 claims are unresolved and a disturbing 17,000 asylum seekers have simply been ‘withdrawn’ by the Tories from this legacy backlog, with Ministers seeming to have no idea where they are and whether they are reapplying or disappearing into the underground economy.”
And Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper mentioned: “PM & Home Secretary claiming they’ve cleared the asylum backlog this morning. That’s just not true.
“It’s one in all 5 Sunak damaged guarantees on asylum and small boats this yr – yet one more yr of Tory asylum chaos, of gimmicks as an alternative of grip.”
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