More than 450 people crossed the English Channel in small boats on Christmas Day, according to Home Office figures.
Data updated on Thursday indicated that 451 migrants arrived on December 25 on 11 boats.
The last time vessels carrying migrants were known to have arrived was on December 14, when 160 people arrived in three boats.
The figures take the total number of crossings in 2024 to 35,491, around 21% higher than last year, but about 22% down on 2022.
The last time there were crossings on Christmas Day was 2022 when 90 people arrived. There were 67 the year before in 2021.
Sir Keir Starmer has made “smashing the gangs” who facilitate small boat crossings one of his top priorities since coming to power.
The Prime Minister has set up a new Border Security Command, and is attempting to work more closely with the UK’s European neighbours to pull apart organised crime gangs involved in people smuggling.
Earlier in December, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the Government has a moral responsibility to tackle the small boats crisis, however she has declined to put a date on when the number of people crossing the Channel may drop.
Speaking on a visit to Italy, Ms Cooper said there was a principled reason to try to tackle boat crossings, as well as due to the impact on British services.
“We have a responsibility, a moral responsibility to go after those gangs who are putting lives at risk,” she said.
“When you see these flimsy boats, the way that it’s women and kids who get put in the middle of the boats, so when the boat folds, they are the people who get crushed, who end up drowning.”
Speaking days later to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Cooper said she wanted to see crossings fall sharply but did not set a deadline of when the target would be met.
“There is a history of home secretaries and prime ministers making grand promises but never actually having a proper plan,” she said.
“The approach we are taking to this is really step by step, we are putting in place the things that we need, the agreements with other countries, the stronger returns arrangements, the much stronger law enforcement, the operations with Germany to go after the smugglers’ supply chains, the operations with Italy to go after the illicit finance.”
