Small boat arrivals since Andy Burnham became PM top 10,000 with nearly 100 crossing the Channel every day on average

More than 10,000 small boat migrants have crossed the Channel since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. A total of 1,670 people made the perilous journey between Thursday and Sunday, according to the latest Home Office figures. The surge - which ends a three-week pause - saw 263 migrants arrive on Thursday, followed by another 671 on Friday and 259 on Saturday. Another 477 arrived in seven boats yesterday, shredding Mr Burnham's claims to have a grip on the crisis. The PM's total now stands at 10,136, averaging 96.5 per day - higher than the recorded averages under Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson and Theresa May.It is only slightly lower than the figure during Sir Keir Starmer's premiership, which saw 77,183 arrivals averaging 103.5 a day.It comes as Shabana Mahmood prepares to unveil her new immigration rules, which have been massively watered down following a highly damaging battle within the Labour Party.The Home Secretary's proposals to make low-skilled foreign migrants wait far longer for 'settled' status in Britain have been rewritten after strident opposition from her party's Left-wing.Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, told the Daily Mail: 'Open-borders Burnham has done nothing to tackle illegal immigration, and his watering down of settlement reforms will only make the problem worse by keeping the incentives to come here illegally firmly in place.'We need to smash those incentives entirely by deporting illegal immigrants and ending benefits for foreign nationals. There must be no reward for breaking into Britain.'Only the Conservatives have the backbone to deliver a borders plan including leaving the ECHR and deporting all illegal immigrants. That is how we end the crisis in the Channel.' The total number of small boat migrants arriving under Andy Burnham now stands at 10,136, an average of 96.5 per dayIn an interview late last month, Mr Burnham blamed Brexit for his inability to stop the crossings.'I do point to the loss of collaboration with neighbours that came with Brexit. That hasn't helped,' he said. 'We had a more... co-operative system, if you like, in the past, so we are not able to have the same levels of collaboration that we used to have.'But I don't put that forward as a reason why we won't keep working until we get the crossings right down. That is our goal, that we don't want to see any crossings at all.'The Labour leader pointed out that the overall number of people making it to the UK this year is down compared with the same point in 2025. His party scrapped the Conservatives' Rwanda asylum deal shortly after the 2024 General Election and instead attempted to tackle the small boats crisis through improved work by police and other law enforcement agencies.Ms Mahmood will today set out reforms to the length of time people will have to be in the UK before becoming eligible for permanent settlement. Some of her toughest proposals – including increasing the five-year wait for claiming indefinite leave to remain (ILR) by up to 10 years for foreign care workers – are set to be watered down after they triggered a massive row with her Labour colleagues. Men on a small boat gesture towards a photographer as they leave Gravelines in northern France on Friday The full extent of the Home Secretary's capitulation is expected to be revealed in a statement in the Commons this afternoon.Angela Rayner had castigated the plans as 'un-British' in March when she was a backbencher – and has since been reappointed to the Cabinet by PM Andy Burnham.Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, seen as a rising star within the Labour Government, also attacked the proposals last month.Under Ms Mahmood's original proposals, the qualification period for ILR would have doubled to a baseline of ten years.Low-skilled foreign workers and anyone relying on welfare during that time would wait even longer.The qualification period for anyone who had claimed benefits for up to 12 months would have been extended to 15 years. If they had claimed benefits for more than a year they would have had to wait 20 years.Anyone who entered Britain illegally – such as by small boat – would have had to wait up to 25 years before claiming settled status.However, foreign workers in senior public sector roles – such as doctors and nurses – would have enjoyed a shorter qualification period of five years, along with others who made a contribution to society by paying higher levels of tax.Ms Mahmood set out her original proposals to lessen the impact of between 1.3million and 2.2million foreign nationals who are due to qualify for ILR between this year and 2030.The total includes 463,000 who came here on the foreign care worker visa, which was widely abused with fraudulent applications.A Home Office spokesman said: 'We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020.'We are taking action, with joint efforts preventing over 48,000 crossing attempts and seizing 1,100 boats and engines since the election.'But we must go further, which is why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.'