Small-boat crossings across the English Channel restarted on 22 July 2026 – the first since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister earlier in the week. LBC cameras filmed dozens of would-be migrants sprinting across the sand at Equihen-Plage in northern France to clamber aboard an over-loaded RIB as French police tried to hold back families with young children. By mid-afternoon several boats had reached Dover, ending an 11-day spell of bad-weather inactivity. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new Labour administration would “finish the job” of cutting crossings and confirmed that the National Crime Agency had seized 50 inflatable boats and engines thought to be destined for smugglers. The first week’s data under the new government will be published on Thursday; provisional Home Office figures show 12,469 arrivals so far this year – 47 % fewer than this point in 2025. For global-mobility managers the resumption is a reminder that corporate duty-of-care policies covering cross-border workers in northern France or Kent should include contingency plans for sudden spikes in operational or political activity around juxtaposed controls. Logistics firms moving time-critical goods through Dover should also anticipate short-notice traffic management measures if small-boat arrivals coincide with peak summer holiday traffic. The episode underscores the importance of keeping employee travel documentation and right-to-work evidence up to date: under the eVisa roll-out, carriers can be fined for transporting passengers whose digital status cannot be verified at embarkation. HR teams should ensure sponsored workers returning from the Continent carry passports that are correctly linked to their UKVI account to avoid delays at British ports and airports.
Source: LBC
