Nigel Farage rips into Keir Starmer over small boats – ‘complete disaster’ | Politics | News

Nigel Farage attacked Sir Keir Starmer after it emerged last year was the second highest on record for small boats. A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in 2025.

This is the second-highest annual figure on record after 45,774 people made the perilous journey in 2022. The Reform UK leader said the Prime Minister’s promise to “crush the gangs” was an “utter disaster” and his one-for-one deal with France was “nonsense”.

The Clacton MP said: “Breaking up gangs is an absolute disaster, one-for-one deals are a farce and the numbers are huge.

“A lot of the young people who came last year will do us great harm.”

The Home Office confirmed no migrants made the journey on New Year’s Eve, and no crossings continued over the festive period.

This means that last year’s total arrivals finished 9% below the all-time high for 2022.

The 2025 total was 13% higher than 2024, when 36,816 migrants traveled, and 41% higher than 2023, when the total was 29,437 migrants.

For most of 2025, the number of arrivals was at the highest level since data on Channel crossings was first published in 2018.

But bad weather means crossings have slowed in the last two months.

Around 65,000 immigrants have arrived in the country on small boats since Labor came to power.

This comes as the Prime Minister faces intense pressure to address the issue.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act became law in December; The law introduces new crimes and allows law enforcement to use counter-terrorism-style powers to crack down on people-trafficking gangs.

In November, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also announced a series of reform plans that she described as “the most significant changes to our asylum system in modern times” to deter people from coming to the UK and make it easier for them to be deported.

But Reform UK has called on the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to deal with the crisis.