\n\t\t\t\t\tAt least 160,535 migrants have arrived in the UK by small boat since Brexit, compared with 10,608 between 2018 and 2020\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer has blamed Nigel Farage<\/a> for the rise in illegal Channel crossings on what he described as \u201cFarage boats\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the Prime Minister claimed the UK\u2019s migration crisis<\/a> was down to the Reform leader\u2019s campaign to leave the European Union in 2016.<\/p>\n He claimed leaving migrant return deals with 27 EU countries had caused the surge in small boat crossings since the UK left the bloc in 2020.<\/p>\n New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n Starmer told GB News: \u201cI would gently point out to Nigel Farage and others that before we left the EU, we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe told the country it would make no difference if we left. He was wrong about that. These are Farage boats coming across the Channel.\u201d <\/p>\n But is he right? Here, The i Paper takes a look at the figures and other factors that might have contributed to the rise in irregular migration to the UK since Brexit. <\/p>\n The figures \u00a0<\/p>\n The UK narrowly voted to leave the EU in 2016 but did not withdraw from the bloc until four years later. <\/p>\n Between 2018 and 2020, the year the UK left the EU, 10,608 asylum seekers arrived in the UK by small boat, according to the Home Office.<\/p>\n That number soared to 28,526 the following year, reaching a peak of 45,755 in 2022 and falling to 29,437 in 2023. <\/p>\n Last year, 36,816 migrants arrived by small boat in total. <\/p>\n The Home Office figures show 19,982 made the perilous crossing between January and June in 2025, bringing the total arrivals to 160,535 since 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Leaving the EU\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford\u2019s Migration Observatory, suggested that the lack of a returns agreement with the EU could be to blame. <\/p>\n He said leaving the Dublin system, which allowed asylum seekers to be transferred to countries of first entry, could have created incentives for migrants to reach the UK. <\/p>\n This is because the UK left the European asylum fingerprints database, Eurodac, meaning migrants know the Home Office can\u2019t tell if they have claimed asylum in another country. <\/p>\n \u201cOtherwise, that would be a basis for a refusal and an attempt at removal. In a sense, it\u2019s another bite of the cherry if you can get to the UK,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Starmer struck a \u201cone in, one out\u201d migrant returns deal with French President Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n At least six migrants have been returned to France since the agreement came into force in September, but it is not yet clear if it will act as a deterrent.<\/p>\n Global conflict\u00a0<\/p>\n More conflicts are currently taking place across the world than at any time since 1945 \u2013 the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) recorded\u00a059 wars in more than 35 countries in 2024. <\/p>\n The war in Afghanistan \u2013 which displaced millions \u2013 came to an end in 2021, but fear of the Taliban only triggered further waves of migration. <\/p>\n Millions also fled Syria throughout the 14-year civil war which ended with the fall of Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime last year. <\/p>\n Sudanese people are reported to be the largest national group among migrants in Calais, as the war which began in 2023 rages on. <\/p>\n Lack of legal routes\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, 99 per cent of those crossing the Channel sought asylum, meaning they requested refuge in the UK on the grounds of persecution or threat in their own country. <\/p>\n To claim asylum in the UK, a person must be physically in the UK. There is no visa to travel to the UK to make an asylum claim.<\/p>\n The UK does have\u00a0some routes for other kinds of refugee resettlement\u00a0in the UK \u2013 separate from the asylum process. <\/p>\n Most are nationality specific \u2013 for Afghans, Ukrainians and Hong Kongers \u2013 while some are run by the UN, but people\u00a0cannot apply for these.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Oxford\u2019s Migration Observatory, the current rules mean that people who do not have another form of visa \u2013 or are from the 67 countries that need visas to get to the UK \u2013 do not have a legal route to seek asylum in the UK. <\/p>\n Those who do not have access to a passport, either because they never had one or because it was lost or abandoned during the rush to flee their home, also cannot travel to the UK safely to seek asylum, the organisation said. <\/p>\n This leaves unofficial routes, such small boats, as their only option. <\/p>\n Labour\u2019s immigration crackdown<\/p>\n Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood<\/a> on Monday\u00a0unveiled a series of new conditions<\/a>\u00a0for migrants who want to settle in the UK, including ensuring they learn English to a high standard, work, have a clean criminal record and volunteer in their community<\/a>.<\/p>\n The time it takes to qualify for indefinite leave to remain will also be doubled from five to ten years under Mahmood\u2019s proposals.<\/p>\n She is understood to be looking to apply the policy retrospectively to deal with concerns about the sharp increase in migration after Brexit.<\/p>\n