Migrant crossings top 20,000 so far this year

Small boats have continued to cross the English Channel on Thursday

The number of people who have crossed the English Channel in small boats has passed 20,000 for the year so far.

The Home Office said 614 people were brought ashore in Dover on Wednesday, bringing the annual total for 2024 to 20,433.

The figure is up 3% on this time last year, but down 18% on 2022.

The government said the crossings are " undermining border security and putting lives at risk."

The Home Office said the Government is "taking steps to boost border security".

It said the new Border Security Command will "bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies".

It said the "hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas" will have "new counter-terror-style powers" to "smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit".

The highest number of arrivals on a single day so far in 2024 was 18 June, when 882 people made the crossing.

Two days after coming to power in July's general election Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed the previous government's plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda had been dropped.