UK's Burnham vows 'relentless' focus on small boats

The United Kingdom's new prime minister has promised "relentless" efforts to tackle the influx of illegal migrants into his country.

Andy Burnham, who took over as the UK's national leader on July 20, said on Sunday that the arrival of migrants on small boats from the other side of the English Channel is a major concern of his government.

"The public don't like the idea that the border looks like it's not controlled," he said during a visit to Dover in Kent to announce a boost in the number of National Crime Agency officers deployed to tackle smuggling gangs, from 376 at the start of 2025 to almost 800.

"We need to bring back that control, but also we need to offer support for people who genuinely need it."

He made the comments after the latest figures showed more than 2,000 migrants had crossed the English Channel in small boats in the two weeks since he became prime minister.

"Slowly but surely, we are putting in place those building blocks of a very different approach to this issue," he said. "It's working, but there's more to be done."

Burnham insisted the number of migrant boats crossing the English Channel is down 50 percent on last year, although critics note that this is partly due to people-smugglers now using fewer, larger boats.

And he said the way forward seems to be in providing more safe routes for genuine asylum seekers while better securing the country's borders against incursions from others.

But with almost 15,000 migrants known to have arrived in the UK in small boats so far this year — after 41,472 did so in the whole of 2025 and 36,816 in 2024 — Burnham knows the British public is eager to see improvements, not hear more promises.

"Clearly, progress is being made, but we're not complacent," he added.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has insisted positive change has already begun, with 1,900 suspected people smugglers arrested so far this year and 1,100 boats and engines seized. Additionally, she said, 46,000 small-boat crossings have been disrupted.

But the opposition Conservative Party said the Labour Party, which has been in power for two years, has clearly not delivered on its promise to reduce irregular migration in a significant way.

Reform UK, the UK's fast-rising, far-right, anti-immigrant party, went further, saying it would deploy the navy to stop migrant boats if it comes to power in the next general election, which is set for 2029.

Reform UK's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said the move would amount to "the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War II".

In May, the Office for National Statistics reported net migration to the UK fell to 171,000 in 2025, which was almost half of the 2024 total and the lowest level since 2012.