Record number of migrants trying to reach Kent in the first half of this year
Some 257 people were detected crossing the English Channel yesterday
Last updated 24th Jun 2024
The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel has hit a new record for the first six months of a calendar year.
Home Office figures show 257 people made the journey in four boats on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far 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 2024 total to date is 17% higher than the number of arrivals recorded this time last year (11,058) and up 8% on the same period in 2022 (11,975).
Last year a total of 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, down 36% on a record 45,774 in 2022.
More than 3,000 arrivals have now been recorded since the General Election was called on May 22 (3,019), with immigration a key campaign battleground.
In the last six and a half years, as the recent migrant crisis unfolded, 127,246 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, data recorded since the start of 2018 shows.
Some 82,265 people have made the journey since the Government struck the stalled deal to send migrants to Rwanda in April 2022.
The tally of crossings since Rishi Sunak, who pledged to "stop the boats", became Prime Minister in October that year is nearly 50,000, now standing at 49,964.