Migrant crossings to UK hit new record, heaping pressure on Sunak

FILE PHOTO: People, believed to be migrants, disembark from a British Border Force vessel as they arrive at Port of Dover, Dover, Britain, January 17, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - More than 4,600 asylum seekers have arrived in Britain on small boats so far in 2024, a record total for the first three months of the year and giving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a fresh political headache.

Provisional data from the Home Office, or interior ministry, showed on Wednesday that 4,644 people had been detected arriving across the Channel on small boats such as inflatable dinghies up to March 26 this year.