Overview

• Home Office data show 474 people arrived on August 12, bringing the total to 50,271 in just 402 days—reaching the milestone faster than under any recent prime minister.
• Arrivals in the first half of 2025 are roughly 48–50% higher than in the same period of 2024, with nearly 20,000 crossings recorded so far this year.
• Under the new one-in, one-out returns deal, UK authorities have started detaining some arrivals and expect to return about 50 migrants per week to France initially.
• Organised people-smuggling gangs are deploying larger, overcrowded boats, and at least 19 deaths have been reported this year, highlighting serious humanitarian dangers.
• Conservative calls for expanded detention centres or camps face opposition from charities urging the government to open more safe and legal routes as local housing pressures and protests grow.