Migrant crisis: More than 18,000 small boat migrants have crossed Channel so far this year

More than 18,000 small boat migrants have crossed the English Channel so far this year, after the biggest single day of arrivals under the new Labour Government.

Official figures from the Home Office show 11 small boats made it into UK waters yesterday, carrying 703 migrants.

French authorities reported that two migrants died when their small boat got into difficulties seven miles from the port of Calais.

French and British vessels raced to rescue more than 50 people from their sinking boat.

Two of the migrants were found to be unresponsive and declared dead at the scene.

The latest crossings take the provisional total for the year so far to 18,342 and mark the single highest day of arrivals so far under Sir Keir’s Labour Government.

This is 13 per cent higher than this time last year when 16,170 crossed to the UK.The highest number of arrivals recorded in a single day so far this year was 882 on 18 June.

Of the 11 boats that made it into UK waters, one dinghy came close to landing on a Kent beach, as UK maritime authorities scrambled to intercept them

GB News captured exclusive images of the small boat, which was packed with around 70 migrants onboard.

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The incident, just off St Margaret’s Bay, near Dover, is the first time in more than two years that migrants have come near to reaching a UK beach.

It will have alarmed authorities, who put significant resources into ensuring small boats are prevented from coming ashore, after multiple beach landings in the past, where migrants have run off after landing.

The new Labour Government is in the process of creating a Border Security Command to focus more heavily on the people smuggling gangs making many millions of pounds from their illegal trade.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.

“The new Government is taking steps to boost our border security, setting up a new Border Security Command which will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit.”