More than 34,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel, with 600 making the journey in the busiest December day on record.
Home Office figures show 609 people made the crossing on Thursday in nine boats.
This is the highest number recorded in a single day in December since data started being gathered in 2018. It is also the highest daily total since October 18, when 647 migrants arrived.
(PA Graphics)
The latest crossings take the provisional total for 2024 to date to 34,582.
This is up 19% on this time last year (29,090) but down 23% on 2022 (44,821), which was a record high year for crossings.
Migrants braved the winter weather for the first time in eight days, with groups of people wearing life jackets pictured being brought ashore from a Border Force boat in Dover.
The figures suggest an average of 68 people made the journey per boat.
A group of people thought to be migrants are driven away from the Border Force compound in Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA)
It was the first day of crossings since December 4 and was only the third day of activity so far this month, amid calmer weather conditions in the wake of storms.
Young men were among those seen being driven away from the Kent port town in coaches on Friday as crossings continued.
It comes after Germany pledged to tighten its law to make it easier to prosecute people smugglers enabling Channel crossings to Britain, as part of a new deal signed between the two countries on tackling immigration crime.
The move is expected to give German prosecutors more tools to tackle the supply and storage of dangerous boats being used in the crossings.
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The latest so-called Calais Group meeting took place in London on Tuesday, with ministers and police from the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands agreeing a plan to tackle people smuggling gangs in 2025.
Meanwhile, the UK Government has suspended making decisions on asylum applications from Syrians following the collapse of the Assad regime.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs the move is under “constant review” as the UK continues to monitor the “fast-moving” situation.