The UK's new Labour government is facing ongoing challenges to curb illegal migrants entering the country, as figures show a slight increase from last year, despite being significantly lower than in 2022.
The number of migrants arriving in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats has topped 25,000 since the start of the year.
The provisional figures published on Monday come as the new Labour government – like the previous Conservative administration – struggles to reduce illegal cross-Channel arrivals.
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Some 717 migrants crossed the Channel from northern France on Sunday, taking the cumulative number of arrivals so far in 2024 to 25,052, according to Britain's interior ministry.
A similar number, 707, also made the crossing on Saturday.
The total represents a four percent rise on the equivalent figure at this point last year, but a 21 percent drop on 2022.
Stopping the small boat arrivals on England's southern shores was a key issue in Britain's general election in July.
'Smash the gangs'
Within days of taking power, Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped the Conservatives' controversial scheme to deport migrants to Rwanda.
Instead Starmer pledged to "smash the gangs" of people smugglers who organise the perilous crossings and are paid thousands of euros by each migrant.
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Some 46 migrants have lost their lives attempting to reach the British coast in overloaded rubber dinghies so far this year.
Last month, interior minister Yvette Cooper announced that the government aims over the next six months to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers in five years.
