On 1 April 2026, 325 people crossed the English Channel in small boats in a single day. Five boats. Three hundred and twenty-five people who arrived in this country illegally, knowing they would be housed, fed, and processed through a system that has never once demonstrated the ability to remove the majority of those with no right to be here. And the government's response? A pilot scheme with France. An eye-catching name. No meaningful deterrent.
The Numbers the Government Won't Shout About
Since 2018, 197,376 people have crossed the Channel in small boats. Nearly 200,000 people - roughly the population of a mid-sized British city - have arrived on our shores illegally over eight years. This isn't a crisis that has crept up on anyone. It was predictable, it was predicted, and every government since 2018 has failed to stop it.
In the first two months of 2026 alone, approximately 2,200 more people arrived. The crossings slow in winter. They accelerate in spring and summer. We are heading into the high season right now. If the pattern holds, we could see tens of thousands more arrivals before the year is out.
The France Deal: Window Dressing
Labour's much-trumpeted "one-in, one-out" pilot with France - launched in August 2025 and running until June 2026 - allows the UK to return some small boat arrivals to France, while accepting an equivalent number of asylum seekers from France who haven't crossed the Channel. Read that again carefully. For every person we send back, we accept someone else. The net result is zero reduction in the number of people arriving. This isn't a returns policy. It's a swap scheme dressed up as border control.
France has its own interests. French politicians are not going to accept unlimited returns of people who crossed from French beaches - it is politically toxic for them too. The leverage we have over France is limited, and this pilot demonstrates exactly how limited it is. A swap that doesn't reduce numbers is not a solution. It is a piece of diplomatic theatre.
What Real Border Control Looks Like
The previous government's Rwanda scheme was imperfect. It was expensive. It was slow. But the underlying principle - that there must be a deterrent, that people must believe they will not be allowed to stay if they cross illegally - was correct. Labour scrapped it within days of taking office, replaced it with nothing credible, and then expressed surprise when the boats kept coming.
The asylum system is overwhelmed. The accommodation system is overwhelmed. Local councils - including here in Lancashire - are being asked to house and support people whose cases have not been determined, sometimes for years. The cost to the British taxpayer is now billions of pounds annually. This is money that should be spent on British public services, British housing, and British communities.
What Reform UK Would Do
Reform UK has been consistent on this from the start. We would leave the European Convention on Human Rights if necessary to enable an effective removals policy. We would immediately detain and fast-track all small boat arrivals. We would negotiate proper third-country return agreements - not cosmetic swaps - with countries willing to host people while their claims are processed. We would end the practice of housing migrants in hotels at public expense. And we would process claims in months, not years, with removals following swiftly for those with no valid claim.
No one is saying it's easy. But telling the British public that 325 people arriving in a single day is somehow acceptable - that is the one thing we should not be doing.