By Harry Howard for MailOnline
More than 800 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on Thursday.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said 804 people made the journey in 16 boats.
It takes the total for the year so far to 24,231, according to analysis of provisional Government figures.
This is almost double the total for this time last year and means nearly 3,000 people have arrived in the last four days.
Some of yesterday’s arrivals were pictured after being rescued and brought ashore by the RNLI at Dungeness in Kent.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said 804 people made the journey in 16 boats. It takes the total for the year so far to 24,231, according to analysis of provisional Government figures
One photo showed young men lined up against a wall as they waited to be processed by Kent Police and Border Force officials.
It came as it emerged that the French government is seeking £93 million from British taxpayers towards extra beach patrols on their side of the Channel, according to the country’s Le Figaro newspaper.
The figure would be nearly £40million more than the £54million agreed by Home Secretary Priti Patel last autumn.
Meanwhile, figures showed that the cost of the UK’s asylum system has topped £2billion a year, with the highest number of claims for two decades and record delays for people awaiting a decision.
Home Office spending on asylum rose by £756 million from around £1.4 billion in 2020/21 to £2.1 billion in 2021/22. This is the highest on record and is more than double the amount spent in 2019/20, official figures showed.
The 63,089 applications in the year to June 2022 is also the highest number for any 12-month period since the year to June 2003 when 71,316 applications were made, according to the department.
The arrival figures for this month are the highest monthly record. The previous monthly record was November 2021 when 6,869 migrants reached the UK in inflatable dinghies or other small craft.
The Ministry of Defence has been recording how many small boats cross the English Channel on a regular basis since 2018.
More than 800 migrants arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on Thursday. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said 804 people made the journey in 16 boats
Most of the taxpayer cash handed over to France so far has been spent on equipment such as CCTV systems and night-vision goggles.
The Daily Mail reported this week about how fewer patrols have been mounted in recent weeks because gendarmes are on holiday.
Meanwhile, officials are understood to be working hard to reduce the backlog of outstanding asylum claims but are struggling to keep up with the number of new applications.
In the first six months of this year more than half (51 per cent) of small boat arrivals were Albanians (18 per cent), Afghans (18 per cent) and Iranians (15 per cent).
The number of Afghans making the journey has risen since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul last year, the Home Office said.
The latest asylum figures show the most applications came from Iranians (10,752).
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk