Andy Burnham's small boats total hits 10,000 as crossings surge over weekend

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Nov 1, 2026 - 17:30

Andy Burnham's small boats total hits 10,000 as crossings surge over weekend

More than 10,000 small boat migrants have crossed the Channel since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, GB News can exclusively reveal.

Mr Burnham, who replaced Sir Keir Starmer in No10 on July 20, saw his tally surge by 1,610 in just four days after more than two weeks of no new arrivals.

The People's Channel revealed 417 migrants arrived on British shores today, with 259 crossing on Saturday and 671 making the trip on Friday.

Mr Burnham's total now stands at 10,076, averaging at 96.8 per day.

Mr Burnham's daily score is worse than the recorded average under Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

It is also only marginally lower than the average registered during Sir Keir Starmer's premiership, with 77,183 arrivals balancing out at 103.6.

Labour's total since the 2024 General Election now stands at 87,259, which is around the same size as towns such as Grimsby and Guildford.

Meanwhile, the figure under the Tories finished at 127,896 between January 2018 and July 2024.

Despite GB News's analysis finding Mr Burnham's record is currently worse than three out of five of his predecessors, the Prime Minister defends his record by pointing out small boat crossings are down compared to the same point in 2025.

Speaking in his keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference in September, the Prime Minister said: "People arriving on small boats down 40 per cent on the last year, 50 per cent from the early 2020s."

The decrease stood at 39 per cent as of November 1, with 2026 set to record the fewest Channel crossings in a year since 2021.

However, 22,545 have still made the 21-mile journey so far this calendar year.