More than 8,400 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in 2020, quadruple the number for 2019.

Men, women and children took on the dangerous journey in everything from dinghies and kayaks to a paddling pool.

While thousands of people successfully made it to Britain, the perilous Channel waters tragically claimed several lives.

The Home Office has been accused of “hostile rhetoric” and squandering taxpayer cash in its quest to make the route “unviable”.

Despite another agreement being signed with French authorities in November, it is unclear if crossings will be reduced in 2021.

The PA news agency, which has tracked and analysed migrant crossings all year, can report that at least 8,417 people succeeded in reaching the UK in small boats.

Numbers peaked in September, which saw at least 1,951 crossings – more than the entire total for 2019.

A two-week stretch in August saw crossings every single day, with more than 1,200 people reaching the UK.

Meanwhile, it was on September 2 that 416 migrants travelled to the UK aboard small boats – a single-day record.

In October, a Kurdish-Iranian family including small children died when their migrant boat sank off the coast of France.

Their tragic deaths led to an outcry of grief and fury on both sides of the Channel, but many fear theirs will not be the last lives to be lost on the dangerous route.

Boats were intercepted by Border Force or landed on UK beaches more than 630 times in 2020 and more than one in every three days saw at least one crossing.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, who had pledged that crossings would be an “infrequent phenomenon” by spring 2020, has sought to level blame at “activist lawyers” and has vowed to overhaul the asylum system.

The Home Office also sought the assistance of the military in its efforts to reduce crossings, with RAF planes and an army drone taking to the skies over the English Channel.

Ms Patel was criticised by Bella Sankey, director of humanitarian charity Detention Action, who said millions of taxpayer cash had been “squandered on the unicorn of ‘unviability'”.

She told PA: “The Home Secretary’s record on asylum in 2020 is one of failure and denial.

“Her proposals for 2021 would breach the Refugee Convention and will see millions more wasted in unnecessary litigation as she tries to defend the indefensible.

“If Priti Patel would only agree to meet those with an understanding of these issues, rather than using her platform to attack them, she could reduce the chaos and start to deliver competent and compassionate policy-making instead.”

Stephen Hale, CEO at Refugee Action, said: “The men, women and children clinging to dinghies in the Channel are desperate to find safety.

“After fleeing war and persecution they yet again put their lives on the line because there are so few safe and legal routes to seek refuge in the UK.

“No-one wants to see people making these dangerous crossings but the Government’s hostile rhetoric has done nothing to help.

“It must stop trying to look tough and urgently create safe and legal routes for people to seek sanctuary in the UK.”

Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover and Deal, has been outspoken about the issue and said “all options must be on the table”.

She told PA: “We need the French to stop the boats leaving in the first place, return boats in the Channel back to France instead of bringing them into Britain, and return people who come into our country through these illegal routes.

“Looking ahead to 2021, I look forward to working with the Home Secretary to ensure the necessary legislation is in place to put an end to these dangerous small boats crossing once and for all.”

Immigration minister Chris Philp says the Home Office is taking action “at every level” and claimed that “more dangerous and illegally-facilitated crossings are being prevented than ever before”.

He said: “People entering the UK through illegally-facilitated routes are breaking our laws and this year we have taken unprecedented steps to make this route completely unviable.

“We are targeting the criminal gangs breaking our laws, doubling the number of police officers on the ground in France, increasing surveillance and introducing new cutting-edge technology to enhance our effort and stop these crossings for good.”