The number of people who have crossed the Channel in small boats in 2022 has exceeded the total for the whole of 2021, official figures suggest.
The provisional total for this year is 28,561, after 601 people were detected on Monday in 19 boats, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. Last year’s total was 28,526, according to official figures.
Suella Braverman, the new home secretary, has told her staff that she wants to stop all small boat crossings.
Ending their arrival was a key objective of Braverman’s predecessor Priti Patel, who has returned to the backbenches after failing to curb the numbers.
Arrivals by boat continued to rise despite controversial policies including turning boats back to France and plans to send those who arrive to Rwanda.
The 2022 figure to date is nearly double the number that had been detected by this point last year, which was just under 14,500.
There have been 3,518 crossings recorded in September so far, analysis shows.
The highest daily total on record came on 22 August, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.
Four months ago, Patel announced plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.
Since then 23,293 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.
On 14 April Patel signed what she described as a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda, under which the east African country would receive those deemed by the UK to have arrived “illegally”, and therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.
The first deportation flight, due to take off on 14 June, was grounded amid legal challenges.
Several asylum seekers, the PCS union and the charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid are embroiled in a court case with the Home Office as they challenge the legality of the policy.
A five-day hearing into the way the home secretary handled asylum and human rights claims for Rwanda cases and key aspects of the removals policy opened on Monday and concluded on Friday.
Documents released during the hearing showed that UK officials raised repeated concerns about the unsuitability of Rwanda as a destination country for asylum seekers. The high commissioner in Kigali expressed alarm about a lack of freedom of speech and the disappearance of opponents of the country’s president, Paul Kagame.
The prime minister, Liz Truss, has pledged to push ahead with plans to send people to Rwanda.
The number of people reaching the UK in small boats from France after navigating busy shipping lanes has increased steadily in recent years.
In 2018, 299 were detected, followed by 1,843 in 2019 and 8,466 in 2020, official figures show.
The proportion of applicants granted asylum in the UK reached a 32-year high of 76% in the year ending in June, it was reported in August.
This was the highest grant rate since 1990, while 118,000 people are in the government’s asylum claim processing backlog.
Despite the growing numbers, the number of people arriving in small boats is a fraction of the number of people going to mainland Europe.
Data from the UN’s refugee agency shows at least 120,441 people arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea last year.
The MoD said its data was taken from “live operational systems” and was subject to change, “including reduction”.
