More than 50,000 people have crossed Channel in small boats since Starmer became PM

More than 50,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister, according to new figures.

Home Office statistics reveal that 474 people arrived on Monday in eight vessels - the highest number to make the journey in one day in August.

Politics Live: Keir Starmer hits unwanted small boat crossings milestone

It brings the total to 50,271 since the general election on 4 July 2024.

And it means Sir Keir - who won power promising to "smash the gangs" facilitating the crossings - has reached the 50,000 faster than his predecessors, in 402 days.

Rishi Sunak was in office for 603 days when he hit the unwanted tally.

It took some 1,066 days under Boris Johnson, though it's worth remembering his tenure covered the COVID pandemic and lockdowns.

The Tories' central plan was to deport migrants to Rwanda to claim asylum there, but this failed to get off the ground before they lost the election despite millions being spent.

One of Sir Keir's first acts as prime minister was to scrap the scheme and divert the money to a new Border Force Command that would focus on dismantling people smuggling gangs.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the rising Channel crossings show this promise was "just a slogan", with numbers now "so much worse since Labour came into office".

Nearly 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year, a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024 and a new record for the first half of a year.

Last week, people were detained for the first time under a new "one in, one out deal" that will allow the government to return some people to France.

Ministers hope it will act as a deterrent but critics are sceptical as it is thought only around 50 people a week will be deported initially.

The average number of migrants to cross the Channel per day under Sir Keir is 125, however numbers have been much higher than that on certain days.

The highest daily total of arrivals since data began in 2018 was 1,305, which was recorded on 3 September, 2022, when Mr Johnson was prime minister. The highest daily total under Labour so far was 1195, on 31 May.

Earlier, government minister Baroness Jacqui Smith acknowledged the rising numbers of Channel crossings is an "enormously serious" problem.

She said it would take time before Labour's measures to dismantle people smuggling gangs would have an impact, saying the "one in one out" deal is happening alongside funding towards the National Crime Agency and returning more people whose asylum claims have failed.

"Not gimmicks. Not short term action. Not one single thing, but the sort of consistent, resourced action that the government is taking."