Rishi Sunak blamed calm weather for this year’s record number of small boat crossings, despite claiming last year that bad weather was not linked to a significant drop in small boat crossings.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman blamed a record number of Channel crossings in the first three months of 2024 on “a range of different reasons”, including weather.

But last year, when Mr Sunak held a press conference to welcome the drop in small boat crossings, he said only that “our plans are starting to work”.

Asked at the time about “unusual wind speeds” in the English Channel, Mr Sunak said: “Transit volumes across the rest of Europe have increased by almost a third over the same period.” He insisted the lower UK figures were due to “the measures we have taken action”.

But when asked on Tuesday why numbers were now at record highs, his official spokesman said: “There are a range of different reasons why you see fluctuations in numbers.

“We are seeing an increase in the number of criminal gangs, we know that criminal gangs will seek to take advantage of opportunities and weather, and we also know that French police are facing increased violence and destruction on French beaches.”

Previously, the number of migrants arriving in the UK via the English Channel in the first three months of 2024 reached 5,435, an increase of 43% on the same period last year.

The figure is also about a fifth higher than the total at this time in 2022, which was the highest year on record for small boat transits.

The soaring figures have raised questions about Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”, but Downing Street said the Prime Minister remained confident he could deliver.

“We need to continue to ramp up our efforts and adapt to gangs who are constantly adapting their tactics, but that’s why, as we continue this work, we must also fundamentally break the business model and that’s what the Rwanda Partnership will do matter,” Mr Sunak’s spokesman said.

Shadow Immigration Secretary Stephen Kinnock said the Conservatives had “unprecedented levels of danger crossing the English Channel this Easter bank holiday”.

Mr Kinnock said: “This is complete chaos. It’s time for the Conservatives to take control.”

The Labor MP called on the government to adopt the party’s plan to hunt down smuggling gangs and set up a new deportation and enforcement unit.

Last January, Mr Sunak put five promises to voters, one of which was to “stop the boats”.

A key element of the strategy is a plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, but legislation to implement the plan was not passed before Easter as peers handed the government a series of failures and ministers failed to seek to The plan was rushed through before parliament adjourned.

MPs will now consider it when Parliament resumes on April 15, with the House of Commons likely to undo the latest changes made by the House of Lords and send them back to the House of Lords.