Over 700 migrants crossed the English Channel on Tuesday to mark the highest number of arrivals on a single day in 2025 so far.
Provision figures from the Home Office suggest 705 people made the journey in just 12 boats on 15 April.
The figures comes just days after 656 people made the crossing in 11 boats on Saturday, which at the time was the highest daily number for the year.
The 705 figure remains below the overall record number of crossing on a single day, which was 1,305 on 3 September 2022.
With the latest figure, the total number of channel arrivals in 2025 was updated to a provisional total of 8,888.
This is 42 per cent higher than at the same point last year, when the total stood at 6,265, and 81 per cent higher than at this stage in 2023, when the total was 4,899.
More arrivals have been recorded in January to April 2025 than in the equivalent four-month period in any year since data on Channel crossings began in 2018.
The figures come as the Government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling across the Channel.
A Home Office spokesperson said they are “intensifying” collaboration with France and other countries over tackling gangs’ business models, and introducing tougher enforcement powers under new legislation.
“We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security,” the spokesperson said.
“That’s why this government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.”
Meanwhile, French coastguards said 30 people were rescued on Tuesday after a number of migrant boats were reported to have left the coast between Walde Lighthouse and Dunkirk, in northern France, and got into difficulty.
