Home Office figures showed a stretch between 14 November and yesterday (12 December) without arrivals, making it the longest uninterrupted run since autumn 2018.

However, a number of Border Force vessels were active in the English Channel on Saturday morning, and it is thought that around 160 people from two small boats have been picked up.

So far, 39,292 people have crossed to the UK aboard small boats this year - already more than any other year except 2022.

The record that year was set at 45,774 arrivals.

It comes as the government has stepped up efforts in recent months to deter people from risking their lives crossing the Channel - but measures are not expected to have an impact until next year.

December is normally one of the quietest for Channel crossings, with a combination of poor visibility, low temperatures, less daylight and stormy weather making the perilous journey more difficult.

The most arrivals recorded in the month of December is 3,254, in 2024.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy met with ministers from other European countries this week as discussions over possible reform to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) continue.

The issue of small boat arrivals - a very small percentage of overall UK immigration - has become a salient issue in British politics in recent years.

Last month, French maritime police announced they would soon be able to intercept boats in the English Channel.

In August, around 50,000 people demonstrated in towns and cities across the country. There were clashes at separate rallies between far-right and far-left protesters in Melbourne.

In October, there were more protests. This time police accused the far left of attacking officers and trying to confront right-wing protesters.

Tension on both sides is running high.

Sydney protester Fran Grant has attended all the rallies.

"I love Australia and I'm not happy with what's happening now," she explained.

"It looks like the Labour government are continuing to bring in immigrants. I have no problem with that if we have the infrastructure to support it, but we don't."

Migration levels now falling

During the COVID crisis, Australia introduced strict border closures and migration plummeted.

Then, in the years following the pandemic, there was a migration boom. A total of 1.4 million people entered Australia.

These were huge numbers. However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows net overseas migration has since fallen by almost 40% since its post-COVID peak.

But many Australians still believe the numbers are still too high.

'We can't keep going like this'

Australia's multicultural heart is in suburbs like Auburn in Sydney, where almost 80% of families use a language other than English at home.

Steve Christou is a Cumberland City councillor and the son of Greek-Cypriot migrants.

"All we're saying is put a stop to excess immigration until the country's infrastructure can keep up," he said. "We can't keep going like this."

He added: "We're not blaming the migrants in the country, let's be very clear about that. The government is being blamed for letting in 1.4 million migrants in the last three years to the point where the country can't cope."

Mr Christou spoke to protesters at the rally in October. There were families, students and seniors in the crowd, flying Australian flags and singing Australian songs.

Critics have called these protests racist, inflammatory and dangerous, but many people attending said they were there to show their pride for Australia and its way of life.

Others were demonstrating against the country's housing shortage and the increasing cost of living.

Australia's neo-Nazis emboldened

In August, dozens of Australia's neo-Nazis also attended the Melbourne and Sydney protests and addressed the crowds.

In Melbourne, migration demonstrations and counter-protests turned violent. Neo-Nazis allegedly attacked an indigenous camp in the city.

Speaking at an anti-racism rally in Sydney, deputy leader of the Australian Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, told Sky News: "The far right are emboldened in a way that I have never seen before."

Senator Faruqi was born in Pakistan but has lived in Australia for more than 30 years.

"They [far right] are coming out on the streets, they have signs and slogans and chants that are white supremacists, white nationalists, and of course, this is happening across the world."

Terrorism and far-right expert, Dr Josh Roose, from Deakin University in Melbourne, said: "We know that the Nazis see this as their time to capitalise.

"They're not only attending these rallies, but they're seeking to position themselves at the front, to mobilise people and shape the public conversation by normalising extreme ideas."

At the "March for Australia" rally in October, organiser Bec "Freedom" told Sky News that the neo-Nazis are "proud Australians .. standing up for our country against mass immigration. So long as they're not violent, they're welcome here.

"While they're at my event, they've been told to keep it respectful. No hate speech, no violence, no Hitler talk," she said.

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Ms Freedom said she's "definitely not" coordinating with the neo-Nazis, that she has spoken with them and "that's as far as it goes".

Asked if she was worried that the presence of the neo-Nazis at the August rally would give the March for Australia movement a bad name, she replied: "The thing is we've been abused, and name-called by the media for so long… If you want to call me a Nazi, then fine, call me a Nazi."

Other demonstrators said they wanted nothing to do with the neo-Nazis and had no time for the group and its messages.

On 8 November, more than 60 neo-Nazis gathered on the steps of the New South Wales state parliament, holding a banner reading "Abolish the Jewish Lobby".

The brazen stunt shocked the public and was widely condemned by the state government.

The government is now strengthening laws against public displays of neo-Nazi ideology.

A bill to ban the burqa

There's been political controversy too.

In November, Australian senator and leader of the far-right One Nation party, Pauline Hanson, created a political storm when she wore a burqa (a full-face Islamic covering) inside federal parliament.

Ms Hanson is calling for the burqa to be banned in public places. Her party is rising in the polls and drawing disaffected Coalition (or Conservative) voters to its ranks.

At home with Fran Grant and her reptiles

Ms Grant's home is where she can really express her pride in Australia.

She has an Australian flag flying out the front, an Australian-map-shaped coffee, and a collection of native goannas and snakes.

Ms Grant said being born in Australia, she's won the "lottery of life" but believes there are too many "economic migrants" coming in.

"I'm very happy for people to come here. My mum was a 10-pound pom (British migrant)," she explained.

"At the moment where the cost of living and housing is so high, instead of just saying 'racism, racism' let's look at what's best for people who live here now."

Yellow weather warnings for rain have been issued by the Met Office for the west of Scotland, Northern Ireland, parts of western Wales, and northwest England, with Scotland's alert until Sunday and the rest until Monday.

Check the forecast where you are

A more serious amber warning will be in effect in Cumbria from 6am on Sunday to 6pm on Monday, where the agency said more than 200mm of rain "is possible in some locations".

And an amber warning was imposed in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish borders on Saturday. That warning is in place from midnight on Sunday until 11.59pm.

The Met Office said "fast flowing or deep floodwater is likely, causing danger to life", and "homes and businesses are likely to be flooded, causing damage to some buildings".

Jonathan Day, Environment Agency flood duty manager, said the likely heavy rain in Cumbria "means significant river and surface water flooding impacts are probable" and "are also possible more widely".

He added that the agency's teams "are out on the ground, taking action to reduce the impact of flooding and support those communities affected".

"We urge people not to drive through flood water - it is often deeper than it looks and just 30cm of flowing water is enough to float your car," he also said.

Floods minister Emma Hardy also urged people in affected areas to follow local advice, sign up for flood warnings, and stay up to date with the latest information.

According to the Met Office, some areas of northwest England will continue to see showers until late Monday afternoon, while elsewhere, the southern half of the UK will be dry and bright, with much lighter winds.

Cloudless skies, patches of frost, mist and fog are expected in the south of England on Saturday morning, and Sunday is set to stay dry for many.

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There will be more clouds, followed by the band of rain, slowly moving southeast through Sunday night and into Monday.

Sky's weather producer Kirsty McCabe reports that the "unsettled and mostly mild theme will continue for a while yet, but southern parts could escape with a mainly fine weekend".

She said: "It'll be windy in the north too, with coastal gales likely, locally severe. Temperatures will be mostly above average, but where skies remain clear overnight, frost and fog are possible."

Ms McCabe also noted that "high pressure is likely to build in the run up to Christmas - so it could be colder, drier and more settled".

Emergency services were called to reports of a fire at 6.10pm on Friday in the garden of a house in Heol Fawr, Nelson, Caerphilly, south Wales.

Gwent Police said officers and firefighters from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene.

A force spokesman said: "Two people have sadly been pronounced dead at the scene and their family has been informed."

The road, close to the centre of the village, remains closed as investigations into the fire continue.

Forensic teams were at the two-storey property on Saturday.

Neighbours described seeing the home on fire, with lots of emergency service vehicles at the scene on Friday.

The tree had stood in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, for more than a decade.

It had grown from a sapling into a large tree - so large that the village was planning to replace the lights.

But it was felled sometime on Wednesday night, causing "huge upset", according to Durham Police.

St Saviour's, a local church, posted images of lights on the tree being turned on.

A message on their Facebook account said: "May the people who caused this be caught and punished by the authorities."

In an update on Friday afternoon, the local Peterlee policing team said two men have been arrested in connection with the incident.

"The men, aged 23 and 26, have been taken into police custody where they will be interviewed by officers," the force said on Facebook.

The police said they were "in the process of charging and remanding a 26-year-old male with criminal damage to the tree".

A 23-year-old has since been released under investigation, the police said.