More migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats so far this year than in the whole of 2023, new government figures show.
Data published on Saturday showed that the number of migrant crossings has now passed last year’s 29,437 total.
A total of 424 people crossed the Channel on Friday, taking 2024’s total so far up to 29,578.
While 2024’s figures are up on 2023, it is still significantly lower than the 2022 peak, when 45,728 people made the perilous journey.
It comes after the French coastguard said it rescued 76 migrants in three boats on Thursday after they called for help when they got into difficulty while attempting the crossing.
On Wednesday, three people died and dozens of others were rescued when a boat sank while trying to reach the UK, and a baby died in another similar incident in the previous week.
The French coastguard, which has reported 48 migrant deaths so far this year, repeated warnings about how dangerous the journey is through waters known as the Dover Strait, the narrowest part of the English Channel and the busiest shipping lane in the world.
More than 600 ships pass through it every day and weather conditions are treacherous even when the sea seems calm, with 120 days of winds greater than or equal to a Beaufort scale force seven seen on average per year, the coastguard said.
Migrant charities have warned that the crossings are getting increasingly dangerous as people feel forced to go further out along the French coast to avoid increased enforcement action by police.
Increased numbers of migrants are also being put on each dinghy as people smugglers seek to maximise their trade.
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to introduce tougher measures to “smash the gangs” that facilitate the crossings, a plan that he believes will lead to a fall in the numbers making the journey.
However, Robert Jenrick, former immigration minister and one of the final two candidates to become the new Tory leader, said: “Labour’s plans to ‘smash the gangs’ are in disarray after first contact with reality.
“Britain is now at the mercy of the smuggling gangs, and the British public will pay the price with more asylum hotels and dangerous individuals on our streets.”
