Nearly 450 suspected asylum seekers were picked up in the Channel yesterday.

The Home Office says that UK authorities have had to rescue or intercept 253 people from 10 events.

Meanwhile French authorities stopped 196 people from getting to the UK in seven incidents.

Tom Pursglove, Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, said: “The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable.

" Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they also impact on the UK taxpayer, risk lives and our ability to help refugees come to the UK via safe and legal routes. Rightly, the British public has had enough.

“Through our Nationality and Borders Bill, we’re cracking down on people smugglers and fixing the broken system by making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into the country.”

The activity of asylum seekers crossing the Channel has picked up again after a recentl lull in events a fortnight ago because of severe weather, partcularly Storm Eunice on February 18.

Last Friday another 132 were intercepted crossing the Channel in four different incidents.

Just on Tuesday Matt Dunkley, Kent County Council’s corporate director for children, young people and education, warned that a very high number of crossings by boat were expected this summer.

He said it would be "challenging" for local authorities to provide aid.

More than 28,300 people crossed the Dover Strait by small boats in 2021, triple 2020's figure.

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