More people have arrived in the UK this year after crossing the English Channel in small boats than over the whole of 2023, according to Government figures.

Some 29,578 migrants have made the journey since January, up on last year’s annual total of 29,437.

This is 12% higher than the 26,501 recorded this time last year but 22% lower than the 38,129 people making the journey at this stage in 2022.

Some 424 people in seven boats arrived on on Friday, according to provisional Home Office data.

It comes as the French coastguard said 35 people were rescued from a boat in the Channel and taken to Calais on Friday after screams were heard on the vessel, following the rescue of another 76 migrants on Thursday when they got into difficulty while attempting the journey.

On Wednesday, three people died and dozens of others were rescued when a boat sank while trying to reach the UK, and a baby died in another similar incident last week.

The French coastguard, which has reported 48 migrant deaths so far this year, repeated warnings about how dangerous the journey is through waters known as the Dover Strait, the narrowest part of the English Channel and the busiest shipping lane in the world.

More than 600 ships pass through it every day and weather conditions are treacherous even when the sea seems calm, with 120 days of winds greater than or equal to a Beaufort scale force seven seen on average per year, the coastguard said.