Total Channel crossings reached 41,427 last year, just short of the record-breaking 45,755 illegal arrivals tallied in 2022
GB News can exclusively reveal that the first small boat of 2026 has made it to UK shores after crossing the Channel in sub-zero temperatures.
Dozens of illegal migrants reached the UK just days after it was revealed that 2025’s total reached a staggering 41,427.
The People’s Channel understands several other attempted crossings were abandoned due to freezing weather conditions.
Multiple migrants have been treated in French hospitals for hypothermia.
Temperatures in Calais dipped to as low as -1C today, with conditions feeling closer to -4C in places.
Meanwhile, Dover recorded lows of -3C as residents in the Kent town woke up to conditions feeling closer to -7C.
Previous attempts to cross the Channel in freezing conditions have proved tragic, with five migrants dying in January 2024 when a small boat carrying 70 people capsized.
Another disaster in November 2021 resulted in 31 migrants being killed.
Cold conditions will likely remain in place across the next few days, with the Met Office issuing yet more snow and ice warnings on Tuesday.
Temperatures will drop to as low as -4C on the south coast in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
However, the first wave of arrivals puts more pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s Government to get a grip on the Channel crossing crisis.
Reform UK’s Chief Whip Lee Anderson told GB News: “Is there any wonder that the illegal migrants will keep coming now this spineless treacherous Government is now looking at building social housing for illegal migrants who cross the Channel. This invasion is never going to end under this Government.
“The migrants will continue to arrive, our women and girls will continue to be attacked, our communities will continue to be under siege from backward cultures and the bill for all this will be footed by the decent, hardworking Brits.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp added: “These New Year illegal immigrants show the Government has no control of our borders whatsoever.
“They are putting up illegal immigrants in hotels and allowing 95 per cent of illegal channel migrants to remain here.
“The Prime Minister has admitted that the UK has no deterrent. No wonder illegal immigrants continue to flood in – and many of them go on to commit sex offences against women and girls.
“The only way to fix this is the Conservative plan: come out of the ECHR and deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. Then the crossings will stop.”
Meanwhile, the Centre for Migration Control’s research director Rob Bates called on the Home Office to introduce a stronger deterrent to curb crossings.
“It is bad news for Starmer that migrants are not being deterred by the freezing conditions, and suggests that 2026 could be a bumper year for Channel crossings”, Mr Bates told GB News.
“The Government has no meaningful plan to address the situation and whilst ministers continue to dither, the people smugglers are enjoying a surge in demand.
“We need a strong deterrent in place but instead officials are spending billions of pounds on comfortable accommodation, free phones, and leisure activities for those who break into our country.”
