EXPOSED: The staggering number of asylum seekers who have disappeared in Britain since the small boats crisis began

This means they are either absconded or have failed to complete necessary documents or attend an asylum interview.

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The revelation has been drawn from a "transparency" spreadsheet, which is produced by the Home Office but does not appear as part of its official data set it releases each quarter.

The data reveals how many illegal immigrants who have entered Britain by small boat, specifically, then failed to apply for asylum.

Between 2018 - when the small boats crisis began - up to June of this year, nearly 9,000 small boat arrivals never made any protection or asylum claim, raising the question of where they went.

What is being done to tackle the crisis?

Sir Keir Starmer's "one-in, one-out" deal with France, aimed at curbing illegal Channel crossings came into force earlier this month.

The Prime Minister said the Government had been "fixing the foundations of the broken asylum system" it inherited.

Despite this, Mr Starmer continues to face growing pressure from senior Labour figures as well as his own supporters, who feel the Government’s attempts to tackle the migrant crisis have so far failed.

YouGov polling released over the weekend found that 71 per cent of voters believe the Prime Minister is handling the asylum hotel issue badly, including 56 per cent of Labour supporters.

The poll, meanwhile, showed that voters believe Reform is the party best positioned to handle the issue of immigration and asylum.

Some 31 per cent answered Reform, while 27 per cent picked the "don't know" option, 18 per cent said "none" and just nine per cent believe Labour is the best party to handle the issue.

Reform's leader Nigel Farage today revealed how his party plans to tackle the migrant crisis - including through mass deportation - if it is to come into power following the next general election.

The Reform UK leader warned of a “genuine threat to public order” without action to tackle illegal migration as he and Zia Yusuf launched the plans.

The party has pledged to scale up detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and secure deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran to return migrants to their countries.

It would also leave the European Convention on Human Rights and replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, which would apply only to British citizens and those who have a legal right to live in the UK.

The Conservatives have, however, accused Reform UK of producing a "copy and paste" of Tory plans on illegal immigration.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Nigel Farage is simply re-heating and recycling plans that the Conservatives have already announced.

“Earlier this year we introduced and tabled votes on our Deportation Bill in Parliament, detailing how we would disapply the Human Rights Act from all immigration matters, and deport every illegal immigrant on arrival.

“Months later, Reform have not done the important work necessary to get a grip on the immigration crisis and instead have produced a copy and paste of our proposals."

Figures show a record 28,288 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year alone.

Almost 900 asylum seekers made the journey over the bank holiday weekend alone, taking the number who have arrived since Mr Starmer took office to more than 52,000.

What happens to the asylum seekers once they arrive is also proving to be a bone of contention, with protests continuing outside migrant hotels across the country, including in Castle Bromwich near Birmingham and in Canary Wharf, London, in recent days.

The Government has pledged to shut all asylum hotels by 2029.