{"id":11882,"date":"2026-07-25T18:31:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=11882"},"modified":"2026-07-25T18:31:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:31:32","slug":"three-in-five-britons-doubt-burnham-can-stop-small-boat-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/three-in-five-britons-doubt-burnham-can-stop-small-boat-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Three in Five Britons Doubt Burnham Can Stop Small Boat Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Susanna Siddell<\/strong> writing in GB News<\/em>, only 18 per cent of the British public back Mr Burnham’s pledge to stop illegal Channel crossings, while a crushing 61 per cent believe the new Prime Minister will fail to solve the crisis that plagued his predecessor’s tenure.<\/p>\n

The polling, conducted by Merlin Strategy between July 22 and July 24, comes as Mr Burnham faces mounting pressure during his opening days in office. On immigration more broadly, just 22 per cent expressed confidence in his ability to address the issue, compared with 58 per cent who harbour serious doubts about the Labour leader’s capacity to deliver.<\/p>\n

The survey results arrive amid continuing scenes of mass illegal migration across the English Channel. On Wednesday, the second-ever mega-dinghy completed the dangerous 21-mile crossing from northern France carrying 165 illegal migrants\u2014a new record for a single vessel that surpasses the previous July high of 128 passengers in one boat.<\/p>\n

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, migrants were observed rushing toward a large boat at Equihen-Plage near Boulogne-sur-Mer on France’s northern coastline. The massive vessel, comparable in size to a bus and measuring approximately 13 metres (42 feet) in length, successfully made the Channel crossing the following day.<\/p>\n

Sydney Sopher<\/strong>, chief operations officer at refugee charity Care4Calais, warned that the route is becoming increasingly perilous due to the growing number of migrants crammed onto individual boats. Sopher noted that both the British and French governments have devoted years to border security measures.<\/p>\n

The polling figures represent a significant challenge for Mr Burnham’s new administration, suggesting widespread public doubt about Labour’s approach to one of the most politically sensitive issues facing Britain. With hundreds continuing to make the crossing in his first week as Prime Minister, the new leader confronts immediate scrutiny over whether his policies can succeed where previous efforts have failed.<\/p>\n

The data underscores the scale of the challenge facing Downing Street as illegal Channel crossings persist at alarming levels, with people smugglers employing ever-larger vessels to maximize profits from the deadly trade.<\/p>\n

With information from GB News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than three in five Britons lack confidence in Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s ability to halt illegal Channel crossings, with only 18 percent backing his immigration strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":11881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[5949,10099,1331,941,8384,10098,48],"nfg_topic":[134],"class_list":["post-11882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-andy-burnham","tag-channel-crossings","tag-immigration-policy","tag-labour-party","tag-public-opinion-polling","tag-small-boat-crisis","tag-united-kingdom","nfg_topic-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11885,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11882\/revisions\/11885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11882"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=11882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}