Channel migrants: Over 440 people arrive on Kent shores

About 50 migrants were seen being brought ashore by the RNLI at Dungeness on Wednesday

The Home Office has confirmed 444 people arrived in small boats on Kent shores on Wednesday, amid calmer conditions in the English Channel.

About 50 migrants were seen by the PA news agency being brought ashore in Dungeness by an RNLI lifeboat.

Crossings often rise during favourable weather, which is expected to continue.

So far this year, official figures collated by the BBC show 17,234 people have arrived in the UK in 365 small boats.

Last year 20,452 people had arrived in the UK on small boats over the same period.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the current numbers were lower than they had been in previous years.

He said he was "determined to fix this problem", but admitted there was a "long way to go".

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.

"Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers.

"The government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country."

Many migrants come from some of the poorest and most chaotic parts of the world, and many ask to claim asylum once they are picked up by the UK authorities.

About 200 people attended a vigil on a beach in Kent on Tuesday in memory of a number of migrants who died in the Channel off the French coast at the weekend.

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