Friday saw the highest number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel in a single day so far this year.

Some 686 migrants made the dangerous journey, according to Home Office figures.

The previous daily high for 2023 was recorded on 11 June, when 549 people made the trip.

The latest crossings take the provisional total for this year to 12,119.

The number is slightly lower than the equivalent point in 2022, when the total was more than 13,000.

Last year, the total number of crossings was 45,755.

That led Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to make tackling small boats one of his five key pledges for his government this year.

On Friday, 13 migrant boats were detected crossing the world’s busiest shipping lane, suggesting an average of about 53 people on each vessel.

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