Migrant Channel Crossings Drop a Third Year-on-Year Despite 900 Weekend Arrivals

Nearly 900 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats during the Bank Holiday weekend, with two deaths reported among those attempting the journey, according to GB News. This surge occurred amid an online debate between GB News host Martin Daubney and Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden over whether crossings have declined due to government policies or other factors.

More than 750 illegal migrants arrived across the Channel this weekend, Daubney noted in his X post.

Meaden posted on X that the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats in 2026 so far had decreased compared to 2025, suggesting the lower numbers stemmed from the government's teamwork with French authorities. She reposted an X user's post citing a Times article, which stated that as of May 1, 2026, 6,416 small-boat migrants had reached Britain compared with 9,885 by April 30, 2025.

This represented a drop of a third compared to the same period in 2025, according to The Times.

3k followers on X. The remarks came on the same weekend as the nearly 900 crossings and the two fatalities. Daubney responded on X on May 3, 2026: 'You might want to occasionally Google “weather conditions in the English Channel”.

When the weather is calm, numbers rocket. He debated with Meaden over the weekend about the small boat crossings. Almost 900 migrants made the journey across the Channel in small boats on the same weekend as Meaden's remarks.

A Home Office spokesperson stated: 'This Government is bearing down on small boat crossings. The Home Secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. GB News reported that the weekend's crossings followed Meaden's highlighting of the year-on-year decline, with Daubney attributing fluctuations to calm weather rather than enforcement deals.

The two deaths occurred while trying to cross the Channel on the same weekend.