Channel crossings hit 12,000 for 2023 so far after new highest daily total

The arrivals are another blow to Rishi Sunak’s promise to ‘stop the boats’.

More than 600 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the highest number on a single day so far this year, new figures show (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire)

Nearly 700 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the highest number on a single day so far this year, new figures show.

Some 686 people were detected on Friday, according to Home Office figures published on Saturday, passing this year’s previous high of 549 recorded on Sunday June 11.

It means the number of crossings in 2023 now stands at a provisional total of 12,119, compared with around 13,000 at the same point last year.

The number who made the crossing in 2022 reached a record 45,755, prompting Rishi Sunak to make “stopping the boats” a key priority.

But in another blow to the Prime Minister’s promise, 13 boats were detected crossing the Channel on Friday, with an average of around 53 people per vessel.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been battling to get her central policy of forcibly removing unauthorised arrivals to Rwanda off the ground after it was blocked by appeal judges.

The Government has lodged a bid to take its legal battle to the UK’s most senior judges at the Supreme Court.

Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock urged the Prime Minister to take “serious action”.

The Labour MP said: “This is clearly not a Government with a grip.

“The Tory asylum chaos is just getting worse and worse, and the country is paying the price for these damning failures.”

Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, said: “It is clear that the Government’s approach to tackling the small boats crisis in our channel is simply not working.

“Instead of spouting spiteful rhetoric, Suella Braverman and the Home Office she fails to run should tackle the huge asylum seeker backlog immediately.

“This Government has turned a blind eye to the crisis in the Channel. Their immoral and ineffective small boats Bill will make no difference whatsoever.”