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Large numbers of migrants arriving in UK as record month continues

Large numbers of migrants are arriving in the UK following days of high winds in the English Channel.

Border Force has deployed extra resources to the Dover Strait on Tuesday as crossings have resumed in earnest.

More than 100 people thought to be migrants have been seen arriving in Dover harbour wrapped in blankets and wearing lifejackets.

They are thought to have taken advantage of favourable conditions in the Channel, with wind speeds as low as 6mph early on Tuesday morning.

People have had to queue up and wait to be allowed ashore because of the volume of new arrivals.

Migrants wearing face masks were seen lining up along the side of Border Force cutter Seeker.

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
Border Force vessel, HMC Seeker, in Dover marina in Kent, after a small boat incident in the English Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Seeker, which made a rare visit to the inner harbour to drop off the migrants, is part of a scaled-up contingent of Border Force vessels that have been busy in the Channel on Tuesday.

In total the agency has had at least five boats in operation on Tuesday: cutters Seeker and Searcher and patrol boats Hunter, Speedwell and Eagle.

A police boat has also been operating in the Channel along with the coastguard helicopter and the RNLI.

More than 6,500 migrants have successfully travelled to the UK aboard small boats in 2020, analysis from the PA news agency shows.

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
A group of people, thought to be migrants, are ferried ashore by Border Force officers, from HMC Seeker, on a Border Force rib at Dover marina in Kent, after a small boat incident in the English Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA)

September is the busiest month on record, despite there being over a week to go.

The current single-day record for migrant crossings is 416, set on September 2.

This is despite Home Secretary Priti Patel’s vow to make the route “unviable”, and the continued row between the Home Office and the legal profession on how to tackle the crossings.

On Monday evening the first of up to 400 people were seen arriving at a military barracks that is being used to house Channel migrants.

Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, has been selected by the Home Office to house migrants while their asylum claims are processed.