About 50 people taken to Dover as small boat crossings continue | Immigration and asylum

Small boat crossings continued on Saturday as British Border Force brought a group of people from the Channel to Dover.

Children were among the group of about 50 people led ashore from the first boat to dock. Other Border Force vessels remained in the Channel.

The number of crossing attempts generally increases when weather conditions are favourable.

Figures from the Ministry of the Interior show that 342 people made the crossing in seven boats in the week up to and including Saturday.

The numbers were higher in the seven days from July 15 to 21, when 1,499 people were recorded making the journey in 27 boats.

The Labour government has pledged to tackle small boat arrivals by cracking down on people-smuggling gangs behind border crossings. A Border Command Unit will be set up in conjunction with European partners.

On July 18, Keir Starmer, responding to the deaths of five people in two incidents in the Channel, said it was “a chilling reminder of the human cost of this despicable trade”.