THE number of small boat migrants coming to Britain since 2018 is bigger than the population of Dover.
A total of 116,577 people have turned up on dinghies, Home Office stats revealed.
That surpasses the 116,400 residents of the Channel port.
Labour’s Shadow Immigration Minister, Stephen Kinnock, said yesterday: “It is a shocking indictment of the Conservatives’ failure which has allowed criminal smuggling gangs to take hold along the coast.
“That failure is costing our country billions, while leaving our borders insecure.”
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PM Rishi Sunak has made stopping the small boat migrants one of his pledges.
But his plan to deport many of them to Rwanda has been snarled up in legal challenges and parliamentary scrutiny.
He is still hopeful of being able to get a flight off the ground before the election.
Sir Keir Starmer says he would stem the tide by doing more to smash the criminal gangs behind the evil trade.
But the Government insists it is already doing that.
It says Labour’s opposition to the Rwanda plan shows the party is weak on border control.
A Home Office spokesman said crossings had dropped owing to crackdowns on gangs.
They said last night: “This relentless action reduced crossings by 36 per cent last year, despite numbers soaring by 80 per cent in the Mediterranean, and more than 26,000 attempts were prevented.”
