Britain saw record numbers of migrants arriving after crossing the Channel in the first six months of the year.
Interior Ministry figures show 257 people made the journey on four boats on Sunday alone, bringing the provisional total for the year to 12,901.
The previous record for arrivals in the six months from January to June was 12,747 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, arrivals stood at 11,433.
The total for 2024 to date is 17% higher than the number of arrivals recorded at the same time last year (11,058) and up 8% compared to the same period in 2022 (11,975).
Last year, a total of 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, a drop of 36% from a record 45,774 in 2022.
More than 3,000 arrivals have been recorded since the general election was called on May 22 (3,019), with immigration a key battleground for the campaign.
In the last week alone, more than 1,200 migrants crossed the Channel on just 20 small boats, according to Interior Ministry figures.
Interior Ministry figures show 257 people made the journey on four boats on Sunday alone, bringing the provisional total for the year to 12,901.
The previous record for arrivals in the six months from January to June was 12,747 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, arrivals stood at 11,433.
Over the past six and a half years, as the recent migrant crisis developed, 127,246 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, according to data recorded since the start of 2018.
Some 82,265 people have made the journey since the government reached the stalled deal to send migrants to Rwanda in April 2022.
The number of crossings since Rishi Sunak, who pledged to “stop the boats”, became Prime Minister in October that year, has stood at almost 50,000, and now stands at 49,964.
Downing Street has insisted the Government continues to “put pressure” on migrants crossing the Channel, but migrant charities have called for a “new direction” from the next administration.
A Number 10 spokeswoman said: “We are continually adapting and intensifying our efforts to respond to the changing tactics of what are serious criminal gangs who facilitate these incredibly dangerous journeys.”
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She said the measures taken were already having an impact, suggesting French officers had intercepted more than 8,000 crossings this year.
“So we continue to press this issue. But ultimately, as the Prime Minister has also said many times, it is important that the Rwanda plan is in place so that we can have a deterrent that will fundamentally disrupt the business model of these criminal gangs and, doing so will stop the boats. ‘, she added.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International UK, said: “Once again, these figures underline a fundamental truth: people will continue to undertake these incredibly dangerous journeys for as long as there will be no safer alternatives available to them.
“The political rhetoric of ‘stop the boats’ and ‘crush the gangs’ is a deliberate diversion, and the majority of people making these crossings are fully entitled to asylum.
“The next UK government must lift the current ban on processing people’s applications, abandon the disastrous Rwanda project, end the use of unsuitable accommodation like barges and barracks, and prioritize a system of asylum that processes all applications fairly and efficiently.”
Wanda Wyporska, chief executive of Safe Passage International, said: “We urgently need new direction from the next government, one that prioritizes opening safe routes for people fleeing the war and persecution, the consolidation of family reunification of refugees and the end of hostile policies. »
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