More than 1,000 small boat migrants have crossed the English Channel today, at the end of a week in which just three migrants were returned to France.

GB News can exclusively reveal that the number who crossed on Friday reached 1,061 after 195 arrived on the Border Force vessel Ranger just after 9pm.

It follows 166 migrants who made it to Dover on the first Border Force vessel at 10am on Friday.

Throughout the day, Border Force and lifeboats from Ramsgate and Dover responded to back-to-back sightings of migrant boats.

UK maritime authorities are on alert for the possibility of more crossings overnight tonight, as weather conditions in the Channel are expected to remain good until around Saturday lunchtime.

The latest figures come after the Home Office confirmed a third asylum seeker has been removed from the UK under the “one-in, one-out” returns deal with France aimed at stopping small boats crossing the Channel.

Home Office sources said the man, an Iranian, had been returned to France on Friday.

The removal of the Iranian national comes after the removal of an Indian man on Thursday and an Eritrean man earlier on Friday after he lost a High Court bid to halt his removal.

Migrants seen boarding small boats in northern France this evening