Nine boats carrying 572 people have been intercepted while attempting to cross the Channel, according to the Home Office.
The latest crossings come after Keir Starmer announced plans to tackle what he described as the “national security threat” of people smugglers, pledging an extra £75m and a new team of detectives.
The arrivals on Saturday brought the total number of people who had made small boat crossings this year to 32,691. The figure is up 22% on the same time last year (26,699) but 18% less than had been recorded by November 2022 (39,929).
There have also been more deaths in the Channel, with four bodies discovered off the coast of Calais on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the French coastguard.
Excluding the latest deaths, which are still being investigated, there are believed to have been 60 fatalities among people attempting to cross the Channel, five times more than last year.
Kent police also said the body of a man was pulled from the Channel on Tuesday as officers were called to Dover lifeboat station.
The prime minister said during a speech at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow last Monday that the government would double funding to £150m for the border security command, the enforcement agency launched by the government in the summer.
On Thursday Starmer announced deals to boost intelligence sharing, expertise and cooperation with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo at a meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest, Hungary.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, a UK charity, said the government’s “smash the gangs” slogan would not work and appealed for an orderly and fair asylum system to support refugee integration.
Writing in the Guardian, Solomon said: “Smugglers who exploit and endanger the lives of desperate people fleeing brutal wars or tyranny must be stopped and made to face justice. As enforcement tightens, they are cramming more people into boats and pushing off from more dangerous spots.”
