A record number of small boat migrants are set to cross the English Channel on Tuesday, just days after the largest number this year made the illegal journey.
GB News provisional figures show around 700 migrants arrived in UK waters today, surpassing the previous one-day record of 656 migrant arrivals on Saturday.
The latest crossings take the number of small boat migrants who've made the journey this year to nearly 9,000.
The figures are around 40 per cent higher than the 6,265 who crossed at this point last year.
They make grim reading for Sir Keir Starmer, who promised his Labour government would "smash the gangs".
One senior maritime security source told GB News: "This is an absolute disaster for Labour's border security policies.
GB News provisional figures show around 700 migrants arrived in UK waters today
GB NEWS
"We've been shown a number of successes recently, in terms of the National Crime Agency and other law enforcement agencies making numerous arrests of suspected people smugglers.
"But the fact is, we're not seeing the gangs smashed, we're seeing all previous records for migrant crossings being smashed."
Despite frequent rain showers across Channel on Tuesday, Border Force and French border patrols have been inundated with small boat sightings.
At one point, Dover lifeboat was called to respond to two migrant boats as they arrived in UK waters, because every Border Force vessel was busy responding to other sightings.
The latest crossings take the number of small boat migrants who've made the journey this year to nearly 9,000
GB NEWS
Border Force and French border patrols have been inundated with small boat sightings
GB NEWS
By late afternoon, more than 700 small boat migrants were either already in the UK, or were close to crossing into UK waters.
Weather conditions are due to worsen again this evening, and will be unpredictable over the next few days.
The latest record crossings will pile fresh pressure on Labour to introduce a deterrent scheme, similar to the previous government's Rwanda policy.
Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme on his first day in office, describing the Tory initiative as a gimmick.
The new development has been branded an 'absolute disaster for Labour's border security policies'
PA
Responding to the latest migrant crisis milestone, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “If these numbers are accurate, today is another day of Labour failure. Nearly 9,000 illegal immigrants have already arrived this year, the worst start on record, and 700 crossings in a single day with no sign they will ever leave Britain.
“Labour scrapped our deterrent before it even began and replaced it with nothing. Now, crossings are surging, extremists and criminals are slipping through the net, and British taxpayers are picking up the bill.
“Under new Conservative leadership, we are offering serious, workable reforms to take back control. But Labour continue to sit on their hands. Cancelling Rwanda was a catastrophic mistake, and now Britain is paying the price.”
A Home Office spokesman said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That’s why this Government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.”
