The number of people who have crossed the English Channel in small boats has reached more than 8,500 for the year so far, GB News can reveal.
It follows a significant improvement in weather conditions in the English Channel, which saw almost 800 cross in 16 small boats on throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Today already, GB News has spotted 8 dinghies attempting to make the crossing from France.
The arrivals over the weekend take the official number of Channel migrants to 8,380 since the beginning of the year.
A lifeboat carrying migrants arrives on British shores
PABut today's total will take that number to well above 8,600.
The latest arrivals come just a week after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed government policies were "starting to make a difference" in the plan to stop the small boats.
The Prime Minister said those policies had contributed to a 20 per cent reduction in Channel migrants compared to the same period last year.
Rishi Sunak made stopping Channel crossing migrants one of his five prioritiesPAHowever, GB News has spoken to a number of maritime experts, who claim the reduction was everything to do with poor weather conditions, and very little to do with government policy.
All of them said that the improvement in weather conditions in the weeks ahead will see a huge surge in small boat crossings, likely to surpass the numbers who crossed in 2022.
