This is the highest figure reported in a single day since British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to power with a pledge to tackle human trafficking.

According to preliminary figures released by the British Home Office on August 12, about 703 people arrived in the UK on August 11 on 11 boats. Earlier, French officials said two migrants died while trying to cross the Channel to England, bringing the total number of people who have died on this dangerous journey to 25 since the beginning of the year. During this period, the UK detected 18,342 illegal migrants crossing the English Channel, 13% higher than the same period last year.

Finding ways to stop small boats carrying illegal migrants reaching Britain was a key issue in the country’s general election in July. Days after taking office, Prime Minister Starmer scrapped a controversial plan to deport migrants to Rwanda, a key policy of the previous Conservative government. Instead, Starmer pledged his government would crack down on people-smuggling gangs that organise the crossings, charging thousands of euros per migrant.

The new data comes as Britain struggles with days of unrest following a knife attack on 29 July that left three children dead and several injured. Anti-immigration protests sparked by misinformation spread on social media about the identity and religion of the suspect, suggesting the attacker was Muslim and had arrived in the UK illegally by boat in 2023. However, the suspect is actually 18-year-old Axel Muganwa, born in Cardiff, Wales, to Rwandan parents who arrived in the UK in 2002. This has sparked a second wave of protests against racism and religious intolerance.

Prime Minister Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have pledged to step up cooperation in tackling the rising number of undocumented migrants.