James Manning/PA
The number of migrants who have arrived in the UK so far in 2024 after crossing the Channel has reached a new record high for the first three months of a calendar year.
According to provisional Home Office figures, 338 people arrived in seven boats on Tuesday, taking the total for the year to date to 4,644.
This exceeds the previous record high figure of 4,548 for January to March 2022 and had already surpassed the 3,793 arrivals in the first quarter of last year.
The number of crossings recorded so far this year is 23 per cent higher than the total at this point in 2023 (3,770) and 12 per cent higher than the same time in 2022 (4,162), PA news agency analysis of government figures show.
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