“Small boat crossings are decreasing under the current government compared to when Robert Jenrick was immigration minister.” — Andy Burnham. Our verdict: Unverified.
Andy Burnham made the claim in the House of Commons, as reported by The London Economic on 13 October 2026.
Our verdict
Unverified
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. The official statistics on small boat crossings are not broken down by who was immigration minister, so a direct comparison between Robert Jenrick's time in office and the current government cannot be made from the sources available.
Know something that settles it? Send us evidenceWhat we found
Andy Burnham did make this statement in the House of Commons, and this is reported by The London Economic. However, the claim itself is about a trend: whether small boat crossings have fallen under the current government compared with when Robert Jenrick was immigration minister. The official dataset on small boat activity in the English Channel, published on gov.uk, contains the raw figures needed to build such a comparison, but it does not come with a ready-made comparison by ministerial term. The other material we looked at covers only parts of the relevant period or measures different things. Because the figures are not grouped by ministerial tenure, we cannot say whether crossings have gone down or up over the two periods. We therefore rate the claim unverifiable. If you have evidence that sets out small boat arrival numbers for Robert Jenrick's period as immigration minister alongside the current period, we would like to see it.
The evidence
1 of 2 sources support the claim; none contradict it.
- Background
The London Economic reports that Andy Burnham said in the House of Commons that small boat crossings are decreasing under the current government compared to when Robert Jenrick was immigration minister. This confirms he made the statement, but does not by itself show whether the trend is real. [1]
- Supports the claim
The gov.uk publication on small boat activity in the English Channel provides the official, ongoing dataset needed to compare small boat crossing numbers across different ministerial tenures. It holds the underlying figures, but does not include a pre-calculated comparison for the periods in question. [2]
What we could not confirm
- The available statistics do not separate small boat arrival figures by individual ministerial terms, so a direct comparison between Robert Jenrick's period and the current government cannot be made.
- The figures we found are grouped by year or cover only short windows, such as the last seven days, and do not span the full tenures needed for the comparison.
- The raw dataset would need extra processing to produce totals for each period, and this was not done in the sources we checked.
- Delays in publication or later revisions of official data may affect how complete the available figures are.
How we checked
We looked at the news report of the statement and at the official gov.uk dataset on small boat activity in the English Channel, checking whether the figures were broken down in a way that would allow a comparison between Robert Jenrick's time as immigration minister and the current government. We reviewed 2 relevant sources.
Sources
- [1]www.thelondoneconomic.com · Burnham tears into Robert Jenrick over Reform's immigration plans
- [2]gov.uk · Small boat activity in the English Channel · February 1, 2023
- [3]Photo: Prime Minister's Office / Wikimedia Commons, OGL 3
Help us check this claim
We could not find enough public evidence to confirm or refute this claim. If you know of an official record, dataset, transcript or report that settles it, send us the link. We review every submission and update this fact check when the evidence changes the picture.
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