The best part of a thousand more migrants arrived on the shores of Kent yesterday, bringing the total this year to more than 25,000.

Some 915 people crossed the English Channel in 19 small boats, bringing the provisional total for the year to 25,146, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

August's fine weather and calm seas have seen journeys increase with 8,747 crossings detected so far this month.

Monday (August 22) saw the highest daily total on record, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.

The Home Secretary Priti Patel unveiled a plan in April to send migrants to Rwanda in an effort to deter people from coming, but since then another 19,878 have made the journey and none have actually been sent to Rwanda.

Ms Patel signed what she described as a “world-first” agreement with Rwanda under which the east African nation will receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived “illegally”, and are therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

But the policy has been subject to legal challenges from the Commercial Services Union and the charities Care4Calais, Detention Action and Asylum Aid.

The first deportation flight – due to take off on June 14 – was also grounded amid legal challenges. Several more challenges are set to take place over September and October.

This year's figure is just 3,110 short of last year's record breaking numbers - with four months still to go.

Despite the growing numbers, the small boat arrivals are a fraction of the number of people going to mainland Europe.

Data from the UN’s refugee agency shows at least 120,441 people arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea last year.