Sunak claims he 'can't stop all the boats' before next election in humiliating admission

However, the Prime Minister insisted his plans to tackle illegal immigration are “working”.

He said: “I want it to be done as soon as possible but I also want to be honest with people that it is a complex problem, there is not one simple solution and that it can’t be solved overnight and I wouldn’t be being straight with people if I said that was possible.”

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Sunak previously made the Channel crossing crisis a top priority in January.

More than 25,000 asylum seekers have arrived in the United Kingdom via small boats since Sunak replaced Liz Truss in No10 last autumn.

A total of 45,755 made the perilous 21-mile journey last year, Home Office data has revealed.

The Prime Minister’s plan to tackle illegal migration has experienced some bumps in the road since he entered Downing Street.

The Rwanda deportation policy remains in limbo after legal challenges were lodged.

Migrants aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge off the Dorset coast were also removed after traces of Legionella were found in the water supply.

Sunak added: “I am not complacent. I never said this would be easy, I never said it could be fixed overnight.

“We are going to attack it from every angle and not stop until we are done.”

However, Labour’s Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock last week warned Sunak had “fundamentally failed to get a grip” of the Channel crossing crisis.

He said: “The Conservatives have allowed criminal smuggling gangs to take hold on Britain’s borders and Tory incompetence is risking our national security, putting lives at risk, and pounding the public purse for millions every day.

“Rishi Sunak has fundamentally failed to get a grip and crossings are rocketing on his watch.

“It’s time for a different approach. The Prime Minister must now back Labour’s plan to stop the dangerous Channel crossings by going after the criminal gangs, by securing a returns deal with Europe, and by clearing the asylum backlog which is costing the taxpayer £6million a day.”

Sunak’s Channel crossing admission could further hamper the Conservative Party at the next general election.

Immigration and asylum are the third most important issue to British voters, a recent opinion poll by YouGov has revealed.

Two-in-five people listed the issue as among the most important, with the number increasing to 58 per cent with 2019 Tory voters.

Brexit-backers, who could prove vital to any potential Conservative bounceback, are similarly motivated by immigration at 57 per cent.