Long lines of people, believed to be immigrants, could be seen waiting to be tried at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, when the 990 reached British shores.
Nearly 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK over the weekend after crossing the English Channel, according to government data.
Long lines of people, believed to be immigrants, could be seen waiting to be tried at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, when the 990 reached British shores.
Saturday’s figure is the most arrivals in a single day for many weeks.
The highest number in a single day was set for August 22, when 1,295 people arrived in the country.
Nearly 40,000 people have arrived in the UK so far this year after attempting the treacherous journey from France.
They crossed the world’s busiest shipping lane in rubber dinghies and other small boats, provisional data shows.
The unusually warm weather has seen the kind of stable conditions that encourage crossings.
It comes after an immigration enforcement agency said it was “speechless” over conditions at the Manston Migrant Processing Center in Kent.
David Neal, the chief border and immigration inspector, said the centre had “past the point” that it can be safe and run properly and accused the Home Office of a “creeping lack of ambition”, reports Sky.
Manston was originally supposed to hold between 1,000 and 1,600 people, but there were 2,800 on site when Neal visited last Monday.
The migrants are expected to stay in the short-term detention centre, which opened in January, for 24 hours while they are screened before being transferred to immigration detention centres or asylum accommodation, currently hotels.
The Sunday Times reported that Home Secretary Suella Braverman was accused of failing to act on legal advice received at least three weeks ago that the migrants were illegally detained for long periods.
A Home Office spokesman said these claims were “completely baseless”.
According to Sky, it added: “The Home Secretary has taken urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston and source alternative accommodation. Claims advice was deliberately ignored are completely baseless. It is only right that we look at all available options so that decisions can be made based on the latest operational and legal advice. The number of people arriving in the UK via small boats has reached record levels, which has put our asylum system under incredible pressure and costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds a day.”
Home Secretary Michael Gove said the situation in Manston was “deeply worrying” but denied that the Home Secretary ignored or rejected legal advice.
“The situation in Manston is not what it should be. Everyone acknowledges that. We have more than 2,000 people there at the moment.” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme.
The Liberal Democrats called on the government to publish the legal opinion that Braverman would have ignored.
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