39,000 people arrived in the United Kingdom by small boat in the year to March 2026. They made up around 90 percent of everyone detected arriving in this country without authorisation, and accounted for 42 percent of all asylum claims. These are not abstract statistics. They are the measure of a promise broken.

The "One In, One Out" Deal Is a Sham

Labour staked its credibility on the returns agreement with France. The numbers tell the real story. By early March, just 377 people had been returned to France while 380 had arrived under the very same scheme. That is a net loss. We sent people back and took the same number in return, and the boats never stopped coming. The pilot expired on 11 June having achieved precisely nothing of substance.

A deal that returns one person for every person it accepts was never going to deter anyone. The smugglers know it. The migrants know it. The only people who seemed to believe it would work were the ministers who signed it.

"Smash the Gangs" Was a Slogan, Not a Plan

We were told the criminal gangs would be smashed. Instead they are thriving. The crossings have become a season, an industry, a predictable conveyor belt running every time the weather turns. You do not defeat organised crime with press releases and summits. You defeat it by removing the prize. As long as arriving on a British beach is a near-guaranteed route to years of accommodation and an asylum claim, the gangs will always have customers.

A Pull Factor We Refuse to Remove

The hard truth Labour will not say out loud is that Britain remains one of the most attractive destinations in Europe for illegal entry. We house arrivals at vast expense. We process claims at a glacial pace. We deport a tiny fraction of those refused. Every one of those failures is a signal, and the people-smugglers read those signals better than the Home Office does.

What Reform UK Would Do

Reform UK would end the pull factors that make Britain a magnet for illegal crossings. We would detain and swiftly remove those who arrive illegally, declare that anyone entering by small boat is inadmissible for asylum, and stop the absurd practice of housing arrivals in hotels at the taxpayer's expense. We would take back control of our waters and our laws, rather than outsourcing the problem to a French returns scheme that delivers a net loss.

The British public was promised control of the border. After 39,000 crossings in a single year, they are entitled to ask where that control went.