Channel migrant numbers top 40,000

Mthat border staff have warned are acting as a recruiting tool for those smuggler gangs.

“It is unacceptable that just 4% of last year’s small boat cases have even been processed.

“The Conservatives’ rhetoric and gimmicks haven’t worked. We need serious, hard work to make sure the Home Office gets a grip.”

The milestone comes as immigration minister Robert Jenrick has insisted a move towards more basic accommodation is necessary to remove a “pull factor” for those making their way to the UK in small boats.

He claimed the country’s “generosity” towards refugees is being “abused” by people “skipping the queue”, putting a strain on the immigration system.

In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Jenrick said a “chronic shortage of acceptable accommodation” for “record numbers” of migrants has forced the Government to procure expensive and often unsuitable hotels, burdening the taxpayer with an “unacceptable” cost.

“Human decency has to be accompanied by hard-headed common sense: illegal immigrants are not entitled to luxury hotels,” he said.

“Conditions in the UK are almost always better than in neighbouring countries, which helps explain why the UK is a destination of choice for economic migrants on the continent ‘asylum shopping’.

“‘Hotel Britain’ must end and be replaced with simple, functional accommodation that does not create an additional pull factor.”

Alternatives to hotel rooms could include disused student accommodation, defunct holiday parks and even budget cruise ships, according to the newspaper.

August 22 saw the highest daily total on record, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.

It is nearly seven months since the then home secretary, Priti Patel, announced plans to send migrants to Rwanda to try to deter people from crossing the Channel.

Since then, a total 35,617 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey, according to MoD figures.