More than 100,000 people have crossed the English Channel since 2018, the Home Office has confirmed, with the highest daily count for 2023 reached on Thursday.
Some 755 people were detected crossing the Channel in small boats on Thursday, making it the highest number on a single day so far this year, the Home Office said.
There were 14 boats detected, which suggests an average of around 54 people per boat.
The previous high for this year was 686 people on July 7.
The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2023 now stands at a provisional total of 15,826. Total arrivals last year were 45,755.
The total number of people crossing in small boats since January 2018, when data was first reported, has now reached 100,715, the Home Office also confirmed.
Total small boat arrivals so far this year is around 15 per cent below the equivalent number at this point last year.
The numbers were recorded as a major search and rescue operation was launched on Thursday after 17 migrants went overboard and were pulled from the water.
The Home Office said they were all taken ashore for medical checks.
Border Force reportedly suffered a double blow as one of its cutters broke down in the early hours of the morning and a £400,000 drone used to monitor activity in the Channel crashed into the sea.
The crossings come just weeks after sweeping asylum reforms became law and while the Government fends off legal challenges in the courts over its Rwanda deal and decisions to house migrants on former military sites in Essex and Lincolnshire.
Meanwhile, asylum seekers were moved onto the Bibby Stockholm barge on the Dorset coast this week after the plans were beset by delays.
The much-criticised Illegal Migration Act, central to the Prime Minister’s pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel, will prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means.
Officials are still working on when the legislation will come into force, and it is anticipated elements of the new laws may be implemented in stages over the coming months.
Also this week, the UK and Turkey struck a deal to address the surge in illegal migration, which will focus on co-ordinated actions to “disrupt and dismantle people smuggling gangs”.
Part of the deal is the establishment of a new operational “centre of excellence” by the Turkish National Police.
Supported by the UK, the centre will focus on addressing organised immigration crime by sharing intelligence more fully and more quickly between the two nations.
Chief secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, told LBC on Friday: “This is a Europe-wide problem. We’ve had a 30 per cent increase in illegal immigration across Europe, but we’re working with Turkey...with France, with Albania.
“The arrangements with France have led to 33,000 fewer crossings – also tougher fines for employers and landlords.”
