A record 45,756 asylum seekers crossed the Channel to the UK in 2022, according to government figures.

The last crossings of the year took place on Christmas Day when 90 people made the journey from France in two boats.

The Ministry of Defence recorded no further crossings for the remaining six days of 2022 which were blighted by bad weather.

The provisional total for 2022 is a record high and 60% up on the 28,526 recorded for the whole of 2021. But it is lower than the 60,000 the Home Office had estimated.

Over the past year, politicians have made a series of attempts to get a grip on the crisis especially following 27 drownings in November.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman told of her “dream” of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, although that scheme was stalled by legal actions.

Since the deal was signed in April by her predecessor Priti Patel, 40,460 migrants have arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to bring in legislation in 2023 to make it “unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally, you should not be able to remain here”.

Measures to curb Channel crossings include putting asylum seekers in empty holiday parks, former student halls and unused military sites instead of hotels.

The government expects to spend £3.5 billion on the asylum system in 2022/23 with £2.3 billion going to hotels.

Ministers are also looking to curb the number of people entering the country legally by making it harder for students to bring in spouses and insisting companies increase minimum salaries to skilled workers from abroad.

What are the numbers?

Latest government figures put the number of asylum seekers who entered Britain in 2022 in small boats landing on the Kent coast at 45,756.

More than 40,000 crossed since the government said on April 14 it was going to deport some to Rwanda.

The number arriving in the UK has increased steadily since 2018 when 299 people were detected making the journey.

There were 1,843 crossings in 2019, 8,466 in 2020 and 28,526 in 2021, according to the Home Office.

Last year also recorded a record daily number of crossings of 1,295 on August 22 and a record for monthly crossings of 8,631 in August.

Where are they coming from?

In 2021 more than half of those found crossing the Channel were of Iranian (30 per cent) or Iraqi (22 per cent) nationality. A further 10% were Eritrean, 9% were Syrian and 5% were from Afghanistan.

There was a change in 2022 with Albanians accounting for 35% of arrivals, the highest proportion of any group.

Afghans accounted for 15%, Iranians 11% and Iraqis 10%.

The figures are based on the total number of arrivals that the Home Office managed to record their nationality

How many per boat?

The average of asylum seekers packing into boats has risen steadily.

In 2018 there were fewer than 10 people per boat while in 2019 and 2020 the figure tended to fluctuate between single figures and the high teens.

From 2021 the average began to rise, reaching 20 in March and 30 in August.

In June 2022, it reached 40 people per boat and provisionally hit 48 in December.

How many apply for asylum?

Of the 35,345 people who arrived in small boats between October 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022, 90% (31,891) applied for asylum.

A total of 29,049 applications were made by these arrivals although some applications may have included more than one person such as a dependant. Of this figure, just 139 had received a decision by November.

Some 381 applications had been withdrawn but the vast majority, 28,529, were still awaiting a decision.

Of the 139 who received a decision, 46 were granted refugee status or another type of leave to remain. Fifty-seven were refused and 36 were not considered as the government said they could have “reasonably expected to claim asylum” in another country before reaching Britain.

The first deportation flight to Rwanda was due to take off on June 14 but was grounded by a series of legal challenges. The scheme has since been found to be legal.