No guarantee small boat crossings will fall by next year, Home Secretary says

There is no guarantee that the number of small boat crossings will fall by this time next year, the Home Secretary has said.

Shabana Mahmood told MPs the number of crossings is “unacceptable”, but she said there is no “silver bullet” and the problem needs “long-term, careful, painful work” to resolve.

More than 65,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.

The Government continues its effort to clamp down on people smuggling gangs and others helping migrants to make the journey.

Sir Keir announced during his trip to China that he had negotiated a deal with the Chinese authorities aimed at preventing boat motors made in the country from ending up in the hands of people smugglers.

A Home Office crackdown on adverts telling migrants how to circumvent immigration checks came into force earlier this week.

Ms Mahmood appeared before the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday where she was asked by Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire about a 13% increase in crossings last year, along with an asylum “backlog” of tens of thousands, and when she expected numbers to come down.

There were 41,472 crossings in 2025 compared with 36,816 in 2024.

Migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel for the first time in 13 days on Monday.

Ms Mahmood told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “Those numbers are obviously not where I want to be either.

“This is an issue of deep concern in my own constituency and my city as well, so I fully hear what you and your constituents are saying, and it’s exactly where I am as well.

“These are unacceptable and the numbers need to come down. What I would say is this is a fiendishly difficult problem to resolve.”

The MP for Birmingham Ladywood said there is no “silver bullet” and the problem requires “long-term, careful, painful work” to resolve “every bit”.

Asked whether she could confidently say numbers would go down by this time next year, she said: “I would love to be in that position. I can’t guarantee I’m going to be in that position.

“That’s because the measures will take some time to come into effect. We will legislate at the earliest opportunity to change the appeal system, to further restrict the way that Article 8 of the Human Rights Act is interpreted.

“There is a whole range of legislative changes that we have announced, which we are working at pace to draft and get right before we pass them in a Bill – that all necessarily does take some time.”

The UK is among a number of countries pushing for changes in the way the Human Rights Act is interpreted, notably in its Article 3 protection against inhuman or degrading treatment and the Article 8 right to a family life.

Both articles have been used to prevent people with no right to be in the UK being sent back to their home countries.