The number of migrants who have cross the Channel in small boats this year has surpassed 30,000 after 564 people arrived in the UK on Wednesday.
Channel crossings continued on Thursday, with pictures showing groups wearing life jackets arriving in Dover, Kent, on a Border Force vessel.
One person died attempting to make the perilous journey from France on Wednesday - the day the Chancellor delivered the new Labour Government’s first budget.
The man, believed to be a father, was brought ashore by the French coastguard.
Authorities said about 15 people were rescued after plunging into the sea while trying to climb onto a boat off the northern coast near Calais.
Witnesses described seeing a baby in the water.
According to Home Office figures, 564 people arrived in Britain on Wednesday in 12 boats.
This takes the provisional total for the year so far to 30,431 people.
Between Thursday and Sunday last week 1,222 people made the journey in 23 boats.
The latest arrivals mean the total for 2024 to date is up 14% on the figure recorded this time last year (26,605) but down 24% on 2022 (39,883).
So far this year, over 50 deaths have been reported in the Channel, including a baby who died when a small boat got into difficulty last week.
When three people died in the water last Wednesday, refugee campaign groups said deaths had become “appallingly regular” and they should not be accepted.
The Home Office said this includes joint investigations and intelligence sharing in a bid to target criminal smuggling gangs.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”
