The once-in-a-decade survey was due in 2021 but was delayed by the pandemic and technical and logistical hurdles
world19 hours ago
The number of migrants arriving in the UK by crossing the Channel on boats hit a record in the first half of 2024, interior ministry data showed on Thursday.
Officials processed 13,489 arrivals in the six-month period, an 18 per cent jump year-on-year and the highest figure ever during the first half of a year, according to the statistics.
They compare to 11,433 migrants making the perilous journey -- across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes -- from January to June in 2023.
The figures are a reminder of the challenge facing the UK's new Labour government as it tries to reduce the arrivals amid public unease over the issue.
The date came in the wake of more than a week of disorder -- dubbed anti-immigration riots -- across England and in Northern Ireland which saw some rampaging mobs chant "stop the boats".
The phrase was an unfulfilled pledge from Conservative former premier Rishi Sunak, who lost last month's general election to Labour's Keir Starmer.
The disturbances, which hit more than a dozen English towns and cities, followed a deadly knife attack on a group of children wrongly blamed on an asylum seeker.
The ministry's latest figures showed that 81 percent of arrivals by people without legal permission to enter the UK in the year to June came on small boats from mainland Europe.
UK officials began counting these "irregular" cross-Channel arrivals in 2018, when there were just 11 in the first half of the year.
Since then, more than 133,000 have arrived -- 70 per cent of them men and around a fifth under-18s, according to the data.
Afghans comprised 18 percent of the arrivals in the year to June -- the single largest nationality cohort -- followed by Iranians (13 per cent), Vietnamese (10 per cent), Turkish (10 per cent) and Syrians (nine per cent).
The new statistics revealed the average numbers in each boat had increased again, from 10 in the year ending June 2019, 44 in the year ending June 2023 to 51 people in the latest corresponding period.
UK authorities have repeatedly warned that smuggling gangs organising the crossings are adapting their methods, using bigger boats and packing more people in.
Starmer has vowed to "smash the gangs" as the centrepiece of his strategy to tackle the issue, after scrapping contentious Conservative plans to deport thousands of migrants to Rwanda.
Meanwhile, separate statistics showed further progress in reducing the asylum backlog, with the numbers waiting for an initial application decision dropping by around a third in the year to June.
The once-in-a-decade survey was due in 2021 but was delayed by the pandemic and technical and logistical hurdles
world19 hours ago
The total duration of the eclipse will be about 4.5 hours
world21 hours ago
It means that residents are within a quarter-hour walk or bike ride from everything they need to a lead a good life
world1 day ago
Pezeshkian's remarks came as the Islamic republic marked the anniversary of the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in police custody
world1 day ago
The superfans stumping for Kamala Harris are not formally affiliated with the artist who unites them
world1 day ago
Around $1.2 billion will be spent on ads for the presidential vote alone, according to ad analyst MediaRadar CMAG
world1 day ago
Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening of
world1 day ago
Gaza rescuers say at least 18 killed in Israeli strikes
world1 day ago