More than a THOUSAND migrants have crossed English Channel in small boats in the last 72 hours

GB News can confirm the huge number, bringing the total number of migrants arriving via the treacherous crossing to 10,349 since the beginning of this year.

The latest figures make a mockery of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's claims that policies aimed at stopping the small boats crisis were "beginning to work" with a 20 per cent reduction on the numbers crossing, when compared to the same period in 2022.

More than £5.5 million-a-day is currently spent on providing hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.

Official figures from the Home Office reveal that on Friday, a further 486 people were taken from 10 small boats in the Channel.

On Saturday, another 374 were intercepted in seven dinghies and taken to the processing centre at Dover harbour.

GB News can also confirm that so far on Sunday, 210 Channel migrants have been taken from four small boats by the UK Border Force.

Another dinghy has been spotted in French waters and is currently heading towards the UK.

Maritime experts in Kent have told GB News that the reduction in Channel migrant arrivals had more to do with poor weather conditions over recent months than any policy changes.

Persistent north-easterly winds have pushed against the prevailing tides, churning up the waves and making pushing off from French beaches more difficult.

Conditions in the Channel remain unpredictable, but on most days, several boats are managing to make the journey to UK waters.

Just two weeks ago Sunak boasted that his mission to "stop the boats" - one of his five pledges after he was propelled to power in October last year - was on track.

He said: "In the five months since I launched the plan, crossings are now down 20 per cent compared to last year."

"The plan is working," he added, claiming his government was not complacent and would pass new laws to crack down on illegal migration.

Sunak also insisted a deal with Albania meant that Britain was returning more migrants to the country. He said so far this year "the number of Albanian small boat arrivals has fallen by almost 90%" and that Britain was now accepting one in 50 Albanian asylum cases compared with one in five previously.

He also urged parliament to pass his new Illegal Migration Bill, which will allow for the swift detention and deportation of people arriving on small boats back to their homeland or to so-called safe third countries such as Rwanda.

More than 45,000 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in small boats last year, according to government figures.

It comes as the number of people arriving in Britain reached an all-time record high. The UK saw net migration of 606,000 people in 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said, with 1.2 million people arriving in the country but only about half that number leaving.

David Cameron pledged to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands” when he was Prime Minister, from 2010 to 2016, but the number has consistently risen since.