More than 1,100 migrants crossed Channel
People on an inflatable dinghy attempt to cross the English Channel to reach Europe. Photo: Reuters
Some 1,194 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats, a record for this year according to AFP counting from government data.
It brings the overall number of migrant crossings this year to 14,808, an unprecedented figure despite several measures in place by the French and UK governments to curb the crossings.
French coastal authorities said they also rescued nearly 200 migrants between late Friday and late Saturday.
The latest crossings, which UK Defence Secretary John Healey described as "shocking", fall short of the all-time record of 1,300 migrants arriving on small boats in a day in September 2022.
But they will still prove a headache for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been at pains to toughen his rhetoric on irregular immigration amid pressure from the far right to slash migrant numbers.
"We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security," the Home Office said in a statement on the latest arrivals.
Starmer unveiled tough new immigration policies this month that include doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement in the country and new powers to deport foreign criminals.
The raft of measures was widely seen as an attempt to win back support from voters and fend off threats from the increasingly popular hard-right Reform party.
Separate legislation to tackle irregular immigration, called the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, is currently going through parliament.
But the latest crossings will be a fresh blow.
The overall figure of 14,808 crossings is the highest for the first five months of the year since records began in 2018, when the route into the UK first became popular.
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