The number of migrants crossing the English Channel to reach the UK is continuing to rise after Border Force met a boat carrying around 20 people from Syria off the coast of Dover on Monday morning.

The patrol boat, HMC Hunter, intercepted the inflatable dinghy at around 7:15am ahead of the White Cliffs. Photos show the Home Office agency transported the migrants to the port. It comes after hundreds of people made the dangerous journey across the water from France over the weekend.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is taking action to try and deter migrants from the journey, including asking the Royal Navy to patrol the channel, but campaigners have urged the Government to welcome refugees.

Refugee Action called on ministers to introduce more safe and legal routes for migrants to tackle the global refugee crisis.

Talking tough wont stop desperate people fleeing violence and oppression from climbing into boats to cross the Channel. Britain is better than this and refugees deserve better than this, said chief executive Stephen Hale.

The Government needs to start acting smart and step up with other countries to tackle what is a global refugee crisis. This includes creating more safe and legal routes to the UK for refugees.

The official resettlement scheme for refugees closed in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but Mr Hale said it urgently needed to be restarted to allow them to make a new life in the UK.

And [the Government] needs to reform the restrictive rules on family reunion so that families are not kept apart, he added.

Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants Rights Network, also put pressure on the Government to focus on giving migrants safe and legal options for safety.

She told i: Watching refugees risking their lives by travelling in small dinghies across the Channel is heartbreaking, and demonstrates their heightening desperation to find a place for safety and protection.

Our Government is so preoccupied with enforcement and prevention, it is neglecting its own obligations to protect those who seek safety. We urge the Government re-focus their efforts on making safe and legal routes available, and recognise their duties under international law to welcome refugees.

Monday mornings events come after at least 597 migrants, including families with young children, reached the UK between Thursday and Sunday.

In total, more than 4,000 people have passed through the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the channel that marks the boundary with the North Sea, in small boats to get to Britain this year.

Last year, Ms Patel promised that the crossings would have become an infrequent phenomenon by now.

Immigration minister Chris Philp is visiting his French counterparts in Paris on Tuesday to discuss how to tackle the issue. It has been reported that France is seeking 30m from Britain to help them police the channel.

The Government has officially asked the Royal Navy for help in stopping migrants crossing over from France and the Home Secretary has appointed a Clandestine Channel Threat Commander to lead the UKs response in tackling illegal attempts to reach the UK. The role of Dan OMahoney, a former Royal Marine, will be to make the English Channel an unviable route for small boat crossings.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has authorised a Royal Air Force plane to provide aerial surveillance over the channel as part of an initial offer of assistance from the Ministry of Defence to the Home Office.

When asked if the Navy should be involving in patrolling the water for migrants, Care Minister Helen Whately told BBC Breakfast on Monday:We need to bring this to an end.

The Home Secretarys determined that this will not be a viable route to the UK and my colleague, Home Office Minister Chris Philp, is going to be in Paris later this week to talk directly with the French government about working together to stop this transit.

However Pierre-Henri Dumont, the French MP for Calais, expressed doubt over whether enlisting the Royal Navy would help matters.

This is a political measure to show some kind of resource to fight against smugglers and illegal crossings in the Channel, but technically speaking that wont change anything, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Commenting on whether it might act as a deterrent, he said: Yes, but thats dangerous, because if there is a vessel from the Royal Navy trying to push a vessel, very small boat full withmigrants, back into French waters first you could say that youve got British vessels entering French waters, I dont know if the British Government would be very happy to see the other way, if French vessels would enter without any ask, before or without any decision before, into British waters.

Additional reporting by PA

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UK urged to 'welcome refugees' as Border Force meets boat with 20 Syrian migrants near Dover - iNews