More than 1,000 people arrive in UK on small boats this week - as over 800 make the journey in single day

More than 800 people made the journey on Saturday night on 13 boats - the highest single-day crossing numbers since October 8.

This brings the total for this week to 1,374 people on 23 boats and the total for the year so far to 41,455 people in 671 boats.

That means 2025 has the second-highest number of small boats ever recorded, only behind 2022.

Read more: Group of migrants arrive in Dover after busy night of small boat Channel crossings

The Government, meanwhile, continues efforts to grasp the so-called “upstream” causes of the migration crisis, including through work with neighbouring countries.

Just this week, Germany passed a new law which could see people smugglers face up to 10 years in prison for trying to bring migrants to the UK.

The law change, which will come into force before the end of the year, aims to give more powers to law enforcement and prosecutors, and boost information sharing between the UK and Germany.

It follows a deal agreed between the two countries in December last year to tackle illegal migration, including taking action to remove smugglers’ advertising on social media.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This major change in German law is the result of our close partnership working to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime.

“We will continue to ramp up our international co-operation to strengthen our own border security.”