Small boats crisis 2023 in numbers as Rishi Sunak's pledge lies in tatters
Nearly 30,000 people reached the UK by small boat in 2023, end-of-year figures show.
The enormous number piles pressure on Rishi Sunak, who has made stopping the boats one of his top priorities. Alarming figures show that almost three quarters of the 29,437 who made the dangerous crossing were from just seven countries. And one in five were from Afghanistan, more than two years after the Taliban seized Kabul.
The final figures show that the final number of people who reached the UK via the Channel was a third lower than 2022 - when 45,774 made the crossing. But it's up on 2021, when there were 28,526 - and an immigration union claims this year's drop could be a "glitch" with higher numbers expected in 2024.
Home Office data reveals that Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Eritrea, Iraq, Syria and Sudan were the countries that featured highest on the list of nationalities list. Human rights activists have pointed out that these are all places where conflict and persecution are rife.
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Afghanistan - 5,382 between January and November
Iran - 3,175 between January and November
Turkey - 2,926 between January and November
Eritrea - 2,574 between January and November
Iraq - 2,429 between January and November
Syria - 2,160 between January and November
Sudan - 1,594 between January and November
Analysis of asylum decisions by the Refugee Council found that more than three quarters would be recognised as refugees if the Government processed their asylum claims. The charity also found that 15,000 people who crossed the Channel since the controversial Illegal Migration Act passed are facing deportation to Rwanda.
This is despite questions over the whether the scheme will ever happen - and whether it has the capacity for that many asylum seekers. Although the UK Government says there is no cap on the number of asylum seekers who can be sent to Rwanda, initially there was only accomodation for around 200.
There are also concerns that the number of people making the crossing could rise again in 2024. Lucy Moreton, professional officer for the Immigration Services Union, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The planning assumption for 2024 is that 2023 has been unusually low. There have been other confounding factors - we have had particularly high winds, we have had a larger number of days where it is less likely that we are going to get migrants in boats.
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"But we have also had much larger boats, much more seaworthy boats, so the planning assumption is that this is a glitch."
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “The men, women and children from countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iran who took terrifying journeys in 2023 across the world’s busiest shipping lane are desperately seeking safety, having fled persecution, terror and oppression. They have not just lost their homes and livelihoods, but have faced appalling atrocities including torture, sexual coercion, slavery and exploitation."
He added: “Closing down the asylum system will simply result in vast cost, chaos and human misery with tens of thousands of people stuck in permanent limbo. We know refugees are already avoiding contact with vital services and face being exploited and abused by those seeking to coerce and traffic them."
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