REFUGEE rights groups have repeated calls for the creation of safe ways for asylum-seekers to reach Britain after it was found that more than 8,400 people risked their lives by crossing the Channel in 2020.

This record annual total is four times the number of desperate people who reached Britain by that route in 2019.

At least 8,417 men, women and children made the dangerous journey in the past 12 months, using everything from dinghies and kayaks to a paddling pool, the Press Association news agency estimated.

Crossings peaked in September, when there were at least 1,951 – more than the total for all of 2019. 

On September 2, 416 migrants travelled to Britain in small vessels, setting a single-day record. A two-week period in August saw crossings every single day by more than 1,200 people in total.

While thousands of people were successful in reaching British soil, many lives were lost. In October, a Kurdish-Iranian family, including small children, died when their boat sank off the coast of France.

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

Home Secretary Priti Patel, who had pledged that crossings would become an “infrequent phenomenon” by last spring, has blamed “activist lawyers” for slowing down or halting the deportation of migrants. She has also vowed to overhaul the asylum system.

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

“The Home Secretary’s record on asylum in 2020 is one of failure and denial,” Ms Sankey said.

“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.”

Refugee Action chief executive Stephen Hale 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.”