More migrants arrive in UK after record English Channel crossings

More migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel after a new record was set for the first four months of the year.

Pictures showed people wearing life jackets coming ashore from a Border Force vessel in Dover on Monday, amid smooth conditions at sea.

It comes after 656 people made the journey in 11 boats on Saturday, bringing the total for the year so far to 8,064, according to provisional Home Office figures.

This is higher than the 7,567 people who crossed the Channel between January and April in 2024 – at the time, a record number for that period.

The daily total on Saturday was also the highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.

But it is still some way off the highest number of daily crossings recorded, which was 1,305 on September 3 2022.

There were no crossings recorded on Sunday, according to Home Office figures.

The 8,064 total for the year so far is up 41% on the same point last year (5,731), and 65% higher than at this stage in 2023 (4,899), according to PA news agency analysis of latest data.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the new record crossings shows Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has “lost control of our borders”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

“That’s why this government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.”