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The weather is to blame for a record number of this year, new analysis has claimed.

The Home Office said there were 60 so-called red days this year, more than double the 27 recorded in 2024.

This, officials said, coincided with 11,074 asylum seekers trying to reach British waters in small boats, compared to 7,567.

Some 14,812 migrants have crossed the English Channel this year, up from 10,448 in 2024, and nearly double the number from 2023.

Alarmingly for ministers, the report warned 65% of crossings come in the second of the year, between July and December.

The Home Office analysis revealed: "The year ending April 2025 had a greater number of red days (190) compared to the previous year (106), and 81% more red days than the average number of days in the years ending April 2022 to 2024.

"Additionally, January to April 2025 had more than double the number of red days (60) compared to the same period in 2024 (27).

"This coincides with small boat arrivals being 46% higher in January to April 2025 with 11,074 people arriving to the UK by small boat, compared to 7,567 arrivals during these months in 2024."

Fury is rising in Whitehall over French failures to intercept more boats and stop migrants from crossing the Channel.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "The Labour Government seems to think that praying for bad weather is a good border security strategy

"This is a weak Government, with no plan to end illegal immigrants crossing the Channel.

"They should never have cancelled the Rwanda removals deterrent before it even started.

"That's why 2025 is the worst year in history for illegal crossings - not the weather.

"Blaming the weather for the highest ever crossing numbers so far this year is the border security equivalent of a lazy and feckless student claiming 'the dog ate my homework'. This is a clear fail for our weak Prime Minister and his weak Home Secretary."

Britain has agreed to pay France £480million to stop more Channel migrant crossings.

This includes £175million in the current financial year - more than £480,000 every day.

Officials have warned that the Channel migrant crisis is "endemic" and that there is unlikely to be any drop in the number of crossings until 2026 at the earliest.

The Daily Express last week revealed only 8,347 asylum seekers have been prevented from reaching UK waters in a small boat this year.

This is an interception rate of just 38%, down from 45% last year.

The Home Office revealed more than 26,000 migrants were prevented from crossing the Channel in 2023, down from 33,791 in 2022.

And fury erupted over the weekend when French officers were spotted standing idly by, even taking photographs, as migrants climbed into a dinghy.

The total of 1,195 is the highest total in the first five months of a calendar year.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "This government is restoring grip to the broken asylum system it inherited that saw a whole criminal smuggling enterprise allowed to develop, where gangs have been able to exploit periods of good weather to increase the rate of crossings for too long.

"That's why we are giving counter-terror style powers to law enforcement, launching an unprecedented international crackdown on immigration crime, have prevented 9,000 crossings from the French coastline this year alone and have returned almost 30,000 people since the election.

"At the same time, we are cracking down on the false promise of jobs used to sell spaces on these boats - with illegal working visits and arrests up by more than 40% under this government."