The Prime Minister said “enough is enough” as he unveiled a raft of new measures to curb Channel crossings and tackle the backlog of asylum claims.

Rishi Sunak told the Commons “unless we act now and decisively, this will only get worse” as he announced plans to establish a new “small boats operational command” dedicated to tackling the journeys to the UK.

He also pledged to clear the number of asylum claims awaiting a decision by the end of 2023 and announced plans to fast-track the removal of Albanian migrants as he faced pressure to address the migrant crisis.

Border Force officers will be embedded at Tirana airport under a new agreement with Albania, Mr Sunak added.

His five-point plan to address the boat crossings was laid out this afternoon – but did not include establishing ways of claiming asylum from outside the UK.

Home Office figures from September showed there were more than 143,000 asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their claims, while nearly 100,000 had been waiting more than six months.

The figures, which include more than 44,000 people who have made the crossing this year alone, have seen the government come under vastly increased scrutiny.

Less than a year after 32 people died while attempting to cross the channel in a horrific tragedy, it was revealed the immigration processing centre at Manston was running at more than twice its capacity, and riddled with diseases – one man is believed to have died of diptheria at the centre.

It resulted in the under-fire Home Office quickly reducing the 4,000 people there to within its 1,600-capacity limits, but one solution – block-booking hotels in the county to cater for asylum seekers – has created tension among residents.

"We used to get something like 300 to 400 people making the crossing in a week" said Cllr Mary Lawes, of Folkestone Town Council, "now it's between 700 and 1,000 a day; that really is not sustainable.

"We don't have the infrastructure for that."

A hotel boss in Sandwich hit out at an offer of £1m to book out his hotel as part of the scheme.

Richard Martin, of the Blazing Donkey Country Hotel in Ham, near Sandwich, was approached by an agency which said it was acting on behalf of the Home Office.

He says he was offered £1,080,000 and a guarantee of 100% occupancy for 12 months at the hotel, which recently won a prestigious AA rosette for its food and service.

Mr Sunak's plans have been slammed by refugee groups, with founder of charity Care4CalaisClare Moseley, describing them as "appalling and grotesque".

"A person’s right to asylum is based on the level of danger they are escaping from and does not depend on how they travel to the place where they are seeking sanctuary," she said.

“The majority of people we work with in Calais come from places like Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran; countries that have asylum acceptance rates that are as high as 98% in the recently released Home Office asylum statistics. These are people who urgently need our help, and no safe and legal routes exist for the vast majority of these refugees.

“Treating refugees as criminals when they have no choice but to travel illegally is victim blaming that is quite frankly sickening. People who are brave and resilient enough to have escaped from the worst terrors in this world should not be risking their lives once again to claim asylum in the UK. We know it’s possible to give people safe passage – we do it for Ukrainian refugees – so why not do it for other refugees?

“Today's announcements to stop small boat crossings are nothing new and will have no effect. To implement Sunak’s proposed plans the UK would have to abandon international treaties on refugees and human rights. There is a more humane and effective way to stop people risking their lives in small boats. We need to give safe passage to refugees in Calais.”