More than 200 people cross Channel in seventh day in a row of recorded journeys

A total of 210 people travelled on five boats to the UK on September 8 according to Home Office data, suggesting an average of 42 people per vessel.

This brings the total number of people who have made the journey over the past week to 2,188 new arrivals amid a spell of warm weather.

Saturday September 2 marked the highest number of people to travel in a single day this year, with 872 people in 15 boats who made the crossing.

This year so far, 22,289 people have arrived in the UK via the English Channel, which still remains lower than the same date last year where 27,705 people had made the crossing by September 8.

Stephen Kinnock, Labour’s shadow immigration minister, accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of having “completely failed” on his promise to “stop the boats”.

“Despite his victory lap in Dover in June, asylum seekers have been crossing the Channel in their hundreds every single day for a week,” the MP said.

“This embarrassing record shows that gimmicks and headline chasing can never replace the hard graft needed to actually end these dangerous crossings.”