Rishi Sunak pledge in TATTERS as small boat arrivals passes new milestone

The group had been taken off a small boat that made it to UK waters, despite deteriorating weather conditions in the Channel on Friday, with thunderstorms and increasing winds.

GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope revealed this morning that the number of migrants who had crossed from France since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, was likely to pass 25,000 in the coming hours.

He said the figure "drives home the point that this is not a legacy issue for the Prime Minister. It's one that's happening right on his watch.

"1 in 4 of all crossings since 2018 have happened when he's been in 10 Downing Street."

On Thursday, Home Office figures show that 112 people crossed the Channel in two small boats.

Today's arrival of 57 more migrants brings the total to 25,029 since 25 October last year, the day Rishi Sunak came to power.

Two other migrant boats tried to make the crossing today, but failed to reach the 12-mile mark into UK waters, and were forced to turn back because of the worsening weather conditions.

From Monday, Border Force and maritime authorities are on stand-by for a run of "Red" days, the internal Red Alert system for an extremely busy period.

One maritime expert, who works around the English Channel, told GB News that "next week could prove to be a record week for small boat arrivals."

Despite poor weather conditions in the Channel today, a second migrant boat has made it to UK waters.

More than 50 people were taken to the Border Force processing centre in Dover harbour this afternoon.

The second small boat means more than a 110 Channel migrants have arrived in Kent today.

The figure takes the number who have crossed from France since Rishi Sunak took power last October to around 25,080