A total of 154 migrants arrived in the country in four small boats yesterday, according to government figures.

It means the total number reaching our shores since Labour took power at the general election on July 4 has now reached 30,038.

The Conservatives have been quick to point out that in a similar timeframe during their administration - from July 2023 to April 2024 - there were 23,439 arrivals, enabling them to claim that Labour has allowed illegal crossings to increase by 28%.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

“That’s why this government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.”

The Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said that Sir Keir Starmer had betrayed the British public by losing control of the country’s borders.

He told the Daily Mail: “Starmer needs to develop a backbone and immediately implement a removals deterrent.

“It's the only way we can stop these boats.

“This total loss of border control is catastrophic for our country.”

The high number of arrivals yesterday followed a period of seven days with no activity, when high winds in the Channel deterred the boats.

So far this year, there has been a 25% increase in numbers compared with the same point last year and a 70% increase compared with 2023.

The 30,000-milestone comes as Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to the western Balkans to ratify a “co-operation agreement” aimed at speeding up intelligence-sharing to disrupt people-smuggling.

The region is a key transit route through which migrants travel to the European Union and the UK, accounting for almost 22,000 irregular border crossings last year, according to the Foreign Office.

Ahead of the trip, Mr Lammy said: “The gangs are risking lives for profit and becoming increasingly violent in their determination to make as much money as possible.

“This diabolical, lawless trade of smuggling vulnerable people is completely unacceptable and we are determined to end it as we secure the UK’s borders under our plan for change.

“With the world becoming more dangerous and unpredictable, the western Balkans is of critical importance to the UK and Europe’s collective security, and the UK remains committed to building resilience and stability in the region.”

Earlier this week the Prime Minister blamed the Conservatives for failing to prevent people-smuggling gangs targeting the UK, saying Labour had inherited a “total fragmentation” of policing, Border Force and intelligence agencies.

He said the government’s Border Security Command would help address those gaps.

Meanwhile, a separate deal between the UK, US, Albania, Sweden, Tunisia and Vietnam has been made seeking to take more collective action to target criminal gangs advertising illegal migration online.

The Home Office said the agreement would see governments work with social media companies – including Meta, TikTok and X – to “design out” opportunities for gangs to glorify people-smuggling activities.