Kevin O'Sullivan's furious clash over the migrant crisis

A record 45,756 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in 2022, Government figures show.

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 (MoD) recorded no further crossings for the remaining six days of 2022 amid bad weather conditions.

The provisional annual total for 2022 is a record high and is 60% up on the 28,526 recorded for the whole of 2021, but it is lower than the 60,000 that Home Office officials previously estimated could make the journey during the year.

Over the last 12 months, politicians have made a series of attempts to get a grip on the migrant crisis as pressure intensified amid a tumultuous change in leadership which saw three prime ministers and three home secretaries.