Priti Patel and her French counterpart have pledged to stop “100 per cent” of migrant crossings after crisis talks in the wake of record numbers reaching the UK.

       The Home Secretary and Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, agreed in online talks on Monday night to “accelerate” their efforts to make small boat crossings “unviable.”

       The meeting followed a war of words between London and Paris after a record 23,500 migrants crossed to the UK this year, nearly treble the total for 2020 and including the highest ever daily total of 1,185 on Thursday last week.

       Ms Patel is pressing for Mr Darmanin to speed up the delivery of his commitment to intercept 100 per cent of migrants before they reach the UK in return for the ￡54 million UK Government funds for extra patrols and surveillance. The French stopped just 99, less than one in 10 migrants, on Thursday.

       Mr Darmanin on Monday said Britain was “in no position to give lessons” to the French and urged British politicians to stop using France as “a punch-ball in their domestic politics.”

       In a joint statement issued after the talks, Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin said: "The Home Secretary spoke to her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin to discuss the problem of small boats crossing the Channel and the operational response to it.

       “Both the Home Secretary and Interior Minister agreed to strengthen operational cooperation further. More must be done to stop the dangerous crossings.

       “They agreed to accelerate the delivery of the commitments made in the joint agreement of July 2021 to deliver on their joint determination to prevent 100 per cent of crossings and make this deadly route unviable.”

       It said they had also discussed “additional technical solutions to tackle organised crime groups and respond to the escalating issue.”

       They also discussed the mounting migrant crisis in eastern Europe which Britain accused Belarus and Russia of engineering to undermine European unity.

       The total of 1,185 migrants who crossed the Channel on Thursday smashed the previous daily high of 853 as smugglers exploited the cold but calm weather. Hundreds more are expected early this week due to calmer seas.

       Britain has described the figures as "unacceptable." On Friday, three people who tried to cross in a canoe were reported missing.