Fewer than 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK last month after crossing the English Channel – the lowest January figure in five years.
The Home Office confirmed on Sunday that no migrants made the journey on January 31, continuing a run of 12 days with no crossings at all.
It means 933 people arrived in the UK in small boats last month.
It is the lowest number of crossings for January since 2021, when 224 migrants made the journey.
The figure is also 15% down on the 1,098 arrivals recorded in January 2025, and 30% below the figure for January 2024, when there were 1,335 arrivals.
Bad weather in the region, including last week’s Storm Chandra, is likely to have been a factor in putting people off attempting the journey.
It comes as a Home Office crackdown on adverts telling migrants how to circumvent immigration checks comes into force.
Social media users who tout illegal routes into the UK face up to five years in prison starting on Monday, after the Government activated part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act.
Border security minister Alex Norris told the Press Association his message to people smugglers is: “We are coming after you.”
The National Crime Agency (NCA) Online Communications Centre will trawl through thousands of social media accounts as part of the crackdown.
It is thought so-called “service agents”, middlemen who link migrants up with facilitators for small boats crossings and other routes, could be targeted with the new powers.
The Government is continuing its effort to clamp down on people-smuggling gangs and others helping migrants to make the journey.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced during his trip to China that he had negotiated a deal with the Chinese authorities aimed at preventing boat motors made in the country from ending up in the hands of people smugglers.
Some 60% of the boats which crossed the Channel last year had motors made in China.
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