(BBC) Nine small boats carrying 209 migrants have crossed the English Channel — the highest number in a single day this year.
The Home Office said a further 166 people were prevented from crossing by French authorities.
More than 1,850 people have reached the UK by boat in 2021.
The department said it was working to “break the business model of people smugglers who put lives at risk by facilitating dangerous journeys.”
By the same point in 2020, fewer than 1,000 people had made the crossing, but numbers rose dramatically later in the year as the pandemic reduced the number of cross-Channel ferries.
