Home Office stops publishing number of blocked small boat crossings

The Government has stopped publishing the number of migrants prevented from crossing the Channel in small boats after less than a week following “consultation with the French”.

The Home Office began publishing the number of migrants who had been blocked from making the crossing over the weekend alongside its daily update on the number of those arriving in the UK.

At the time the department  said the figures were “estimates” based on an “operational snapshot collected by the French authorities” and admitted they were “unverified” and likely to be erroneous.

The department was accused by aid workers of publishing “unreliable” and “misleading” figures on the number of migrants prevented from making the journey to the UK.

In a late update on Wednesday evening, the department said it had paused publishing the statistics on prevention “until further notice”.

The update said the Government would continue to publish daily statistics on arrivals and would “provide further updates on the publication of prevention data as soon as possible”.

Wednesday’s update showed another 116 people had arrived via small boats on the previous day, bringing the total number of arrivals for the year so far to 8,790, up 34% on the same period last year, according to analysis by PA Media.

Prior to their removal from the Government’s website, prevention figures suggested 1,048 people had been stopped from crossing the Channel since 29 April.

A Home Office spokesman said previously that the French had prevented 26,000 people making the crossing in 2023, adding that the UK continued to “work closely with French police who are facing increasing violence and disruption on their beaches as they work tirelessly to prevent these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary journeys”.

Additional reporting by the Press Association