More than 1,100 arrivals on small boats in past three days

Channel crossings by people in small boats continued on Sunday (18 June), with a further 333 arrivals, figures have shown.

There were 374 people reported on Saturday (17 June) and 486 on Friday (16 June), meaning 1,193 people have arrived in the past three days.

The cumulative number of arrivals in 2023 now stands at a provisional total of 10,472, according to the latest data from the Home Office.

Some 45,755 people were detected making the crossing in 2022.

Crossings have picked up in recent days after a quiet period earlier in the month, with 2,862 people reported to have arrived between June 10 and 18.

This includes 549 crossings on Sunday (June 11), the highest number on a single day so far this year.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping crossings by small boats one of his priorities for the year, along with cutting NHS waiting lists, growing the economy, halving inflation and reducing the national debt.

Seven boats were detected on Sunday (18 June), which suggests an average of around 48 people crossed the Channel per boat.

The total number of small-boat arrivals so far this year remains below the equivalent number at this point last year.

More than 11,600 people had made the crossing by June 18 2022 – over 1,000 higher than the 10,472 detected so far in 2023.

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