Dozens of migrants have crossed the English Channel today as the total number arriving into Britain this year hits 11,431.
People smugglers took advantage of the sea’s calm conditions on Tuesday to send 85 people across in small boats on what could be one of the busiest days of the year so far for crossings.
RNLI lifeboats and Border Force Vessels were sent out at 4am to round up men, women and children as they arrived into the Port of Dover.
One dinghy is understood to have got into difficulties in the Channel with some people falling into the water, but there are not thought to have been any casualties.
Tuesday’s crossing comes on the same day that the second failed asylum seeker was paid £3,000 by the Government to be relocated to Rwanda, with another set to follow this week.
The latest Home Office figures show that 184 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats in the seven days up to Monday, meaning more than 125,000 have arrived in the UK in the last six-and-a-half years.
Since the Government struck the deal to send migrants to Rwanda more than two years ago – which has since stalled amid legal challenges – more than 80,000 people have made the journey.
The tally of crossings since Rishi Sunak, who pledged to ‘stop the boats’, became Prime Minister is edging closer to 50,000.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We continue to work closely with our French partners to prevent crossings and save lives.’
A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency added: ‘HM Coastguard has been coordinating the response to small boats crossing the Channel this morning, June 18.
‘RNLI lifeboats and UK Border Force vessels were sent.’
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak told broadcasters this week that the fact young children were crossing the Channel was ‘desperately sad’ and demonstrated why his Rwanda policy needed to be implemented.
He said: ‘It’s desperately sad to see young children being put in these very dangerous situations, making these crossings, which illustrates why we have to stop the boats, something I’m determined to do and have a clear plan to do so.
‘If re-elected as Prime Minister, the flights will go to Rwanda, we will build that deterrent, removing the incentive for people to come here in the first place.
‘That’s the only way to solve this problem and in contrast Keir Starmer would release everyone that we have detained, illegal migrants would be on our streets, they wouldn’t be on the planes, which would be cancelled. There would be no deterrent.’
In March, the Home Office confirmed the voluntary relocation plan to Rwanda was open to anyone caught in Britain with no right to be here.
A month later, the first failed asylum seeker was paid £3,000 to be relocated to Rwanda.
The £3,000 payment is part of a voluntary programme that saw the second person fly to Kigali on Tuesday, with another person set to follow next week.
The programme is separate from the Rwanda scheme to forcibly relocate small boat migrants, which remains mired in uncertainty given Labour’s pledge to axe it if Sir Keir Starmer wins the general election.