Migrants wave from packed dinghy after sprinting into the sea in first migrant Channel crossing since Burnham became PM

Crossings resumed on Wednesday morning amid warm, sunny weather and calm conditions at sea after an 11-day hiatus when wind swept the Channel.

Several boats are already thought to have made the journey and arrived in Dover, Kent.

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In a busy day for crossings, migrants were seen racing to board a large boat packed full of people at Equihen-Plage near Boulogne-sur-Mer on the north coast of France.

Footage shows the boat leaving the shore with some of the migrants waving to others left behind in the water.

French authorities were seen handing out life jackets and trying to rescue those in the sea.

Crowds of men, women and children had descended on the beach and police were seen stopping one family with a baby boarding the boat.

The crossings come after Mr Burnham walked into Number 10 on Monday and decided during his Cabinet reshuffle that Shabana Mahmood would hold onto her job as Home Secretary.

She said it was an “honour” to remain in post and vowed to “finish the job” of trying to curb Channel crossings and reform the immigration system.

Some 77,183 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership since Labour’s election victory in July 2024, PA analysis of government data shows.

According to Home Office figures, 12,469 arrivals have been recorded so far this year.

This is 47% lower than the number recorded by this time last year and down 21% on the same period in 2024.

No crossings have been recorded since July 10.

The Home Office will confirm how many people made the journey on Wednesday, the first under the new Labour administration, in data published on Thursday.

Meanwhile, around 50 boats and engines destined for Channel people-smuggling gangs have been seized by the National Crime Agency (NCA) at the Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk.

At least 25 10-metre-long rubber boats – which could carry at least 80 people each – and 25 Parsun outboard engines were found by officers on Saturday in a container shipped from China.

It is said to be the first time a bulk consignment of its kind has been seized in the UK and may have disrupted an estimated 2,000 migrants’ crossing attempts.

Investigators believe the cargo was due to be delivered at the next stop in Hamburg, in Germany – a “well-known staging post” for boats and equipment used by Channel people smugglers in northern France and Belgium, the NCA said.