Record numbers of small boat crossings arrived in the UK in a single day, prompting Yvette Cooper to warn the Cabinet of a "difficult summer ahead" for these crossings.

In the first part of the year, Channel crossings reached a record high, the Home Secretary informed ministers. According to a No. 10 representative, she "indicated a difficult summer ahead."

It happened one week after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that the small boat situation would worsen before getting better and that the number of boats crossing the Channel was rising rather than falling during his visit to the NATO summit in Washington, DC.

Home Office figures show 427 people made the journey in seven boats on Monday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 14,759.

More than 1,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since Labour won the July 4 election.

The total for 2024 to date is 12 per cent higher than the number recorded this time last year (13,200) and up one per cent on the same period in 2022 (14,554), according to analysis of Government data.

Last year, 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK after making the journey, down 36 per cent on a record 45,774 in 2022.

Ms Cooper told Cabinet that tackling illegal migration was an “important part” of Labour’s European reset as it aimed to forge close working relations with other European countries and law enforcement agencies to combat people-smugglers.

Labour scrapped Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda scheme on the first day in office, with the money to be diverted to a new Border Security Command which will oversee the recruitment of hundreds of new officers and investigators tasked to smash the people-smuggling gangs.

It plans to recruit hundreds of extra investigators and officers to the National Crime Agency, Border Force and MI5 who will be deployed across Europe to work with police and border officers to prevent boats, equipment and migrants reaching the northern French coast.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Everyone wants to see an end to the dangerous small boat crossings. They are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.

“We are taking action to smash the people-smuggling gangs responsible for this trade, establishing a new Border Security Command to bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas.

“Our staff continue with their dedicated mission to save lives in the Channel whilst working with our French and other international partners to ensure the criminals responsible face the full extent of the law.”