More than 1,000 small boat migrants crossed the Channel to reach Britain on Wednesday, the Home Office has confirmed.
There were 1,075 arrivals in a 24-hour period aboard 15 dinghies, the department said, the third highest number so far this year.
It brings the total since the start of the year to 35,476, up 33 per cent on the same period last year.
The total number of small boat migrants to have reached Britain since Labour came to power now stands at 58,718.
The Government’s ‘one in, one out’ deal with France came into force more than two months ago.
But latest figures show only seven migrants have been deported so far, with another three accepted into Britain in return.
Wednesday’s huge number of Channel arrivals was the fourth day so far this year to top 1,000.
Migrants arrive aboard a Border Force vessel at Dover on Wednesday, when a total of 1,075 arrived across the Channel by small boat
Migrants wearing lifejackets disembark from the Border Force catamaran, Typhoon, on Wednesday after being picked up from dinghies in the middle of the Channel
The all-time record for daily arrivals is 1,305, set on September 3, 2022.
People traffickers have begun using deadly ‘mega dinghies’ to sent migrants on their perilous journey across the Channl.
At the end of last month one of the massively overloaded inflatables – at around 40ft – was photographed on the Channel for the first time.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda asylum deal – which was designed to deter migrants and save lives – as one of his first acts in office.
Labour now claims the ‘one in, one out’ scheme will undermine people traffickers’ tactics and ‘smash the gangs’ by persuading would-be migrants that crossing the Channel may be fruitless.
However, the programme has been slow to take off after being mired in legal difficulties and even when fully up and running is expected to remove only around 50 migrants a week.
