A total of 234 people in five small boats are the latest to have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel to the UK.

Using Home Office figures collated by the PA news agency, the crossings on Friday mean a total of 628 people have arrived since Monday.

A total of 23,731 have been intercepted since the start of the year.

This figure is down on 2022 when by the same date last year, 29,755 people had crossed the Chanel.

The latest crossings come as a political row has broken out following Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s indication that his party would seek an EU-wide returns agreement which would involve taking a quota of migrants from the bloc.

The Tories have seized on the suggestion of closer ties to Brussels, claiming any such arrangement could lead to 100,000 EU migrants coming to the UK every year.

Labour dismissed the 100,000 figure as “total garbage” and insisted any partnership would focus on children with family in Britain rather than formally joining the EU’s official quota scheme as well as “smashing” the criminal people-smuggling gangs.