A record number of people seeking asylum in small boats have crossed the Channel in the first six months of this year. Home Office figures show that 257 people made the journey in four boats on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 12,901. The previous record for arrivals in the six months from January to June was 12,747 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, arrivals stood at 11,433. The 2024 total to date is 17% higher than the number of arrivals recorded this time last year (11,058) and up 8% on the same period in 2022 (11,975). Last year a total of 29,437 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats, down 36% on a record 45,774 in 2022. The record figure emerged as Rishi Sunak claimed that Labour would make the UK the “soft-touch illegal migration capital of the world”. The prime minister stepped up attacks on Keir Starmer’s proposals to curb migration, which the Conservatives claimed would let thousands more into the UK each year. The Conservatives reiterated their pledges to halt illegal migration, including “running a regular rhythm of flights to Rwanda to provide an effective deterrent, starting in July, until the boats are stopped”. On Sunday, it emerged that an aide to the home secretary and a Conservative parliamentary candidate had said the government’s Rwanda flagship scheme iswas “crap”. In a leaked recording, James Sunderland, who is running for re-election in Bracknell, was recorded criticising the policy at a Young Conservatives event in April. The Rwanda plan, to send asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to east Africa, will cost the UK government a minimum of £370m. So far, no one has been deported under the scheme. Two people seeking asylum have left the UK for Rwanda voluntarily. Responding to Sunak’s claims, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Rishi Sunak’s promises and policies are all just a total con. All they are offering is more of the same failed approach while desperately inventing lies about Labour.” More than 3,000 small boat arrivals have now been recorded since the general election was called on 22 May, and immigration has been a key campaign battleground. In the past six and a half years, as the recent migration crisis has unfolded, 127,246 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, data recorded since the start of 2018 shows. A total of 82,265 people have made the journey since the government struck the stalled deal to send migrants to Rwanda in April 2022. The tally of crossings since Rishi Sunak, who pledged to “stop the boats”, became prime minister is 49,964. Downing Street has said the government continues to “bear down” on Channel crossings. Responding to crossings hitting a record high for the first half of a year, a No 10 spokesperson said: “We continually adapt and step up our efforts to respond to the changing tactics of what are serious criminal gangs facilitating these incredibly dangerous journeys. “But the action that we’ve taken has had impacts. More than 8,000 crossings have been intercepted by the French this year already. And more than 10,000 illegal migrants have been returned to their country of origin. We’ve announced a further £25m in additional funding to enhance investigative capabilities to disrupt the supply chain and enhance intelligence sharing. “So we continue to bear down on this issue. But ultimately, as the prime minister has also said on many occasions, it’s important that we have the Rwanda plan in place so we can have a deterrent which will fundamentally disrupt the business model of these criminal gangs, and in doing so, stop the boats.” Ministers have pledged to pursue the Rwanda scheme if the Conservatives win the election. Labour has promised to scrap it and divert the money to fund additional enforcement activity instead.