Sir Keir Starmer has been warned "it has never been easier to be a people smuggler" after damning new data showed a 16 per cent drop in the number of arrests for organised immigration crime.
Data released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) showed 192 people were arrested for such offences in the year to April, down 16 per cent from 229 witnessed under the Tory Government over the same period in the previous year.
The drop also comes as the number of Channel crossings completed under Starmer hits 50,000, putting the Prime Minister's record significantly worse than either Boris Johnson's or Rishi Sunak's over the same time frame.
Ex-Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick warned Starmer that "it's never been easier to be a people smuggler".
Meanwhile, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told The Independent that the damning data proved Starmer's big talk about "smashing the gangs" was now nothing short of an "abject failure".
Following the arrests, the NCA stressed it has been involved in more than 900 arrests relating to organised crime since 2020.
NCA acting deputy director Dan Barcroft said: “Arrests on their own are not the only way to judge impact. We have also achieved record numbers of disruptions against people smugglers – 347 last year, up almost a third – each of which will have removed, prevented or reduced a criminal threat.
“Arrest figures may fluctuate, but over the last four years the NCA has been involved in more than 900 arrests relating to organised immigration crime in the UK and overseas.”
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|Sir Keir Starmer
However, the Home Office appeared to suggest that there had been further arrests made by Immigration Enforcement and police forces.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are taking firm and targeted action to dismantle the organised criminal networks responsible for dangerous small boat crossings – networks that put vulnerable lives at risk and undermine border security.”
Following a surge in the polls for Nigel Farage's Reform UK, Starmer appears to have ramped up the rhetoric around ending the migrant crisis.
The Prime Minister recently confirmed that the first set of migrants detained under his "one-in, one-out" deal with France were awaiting their return to Europe.
GB News | Migrants arriving in Dover
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also expanded the Labour Government's "deport now, appeal later" scheme, enabling the removal of foreign criminals before their appeals have been heard.
Cooper separately announced an extra £100million scheme to tackle people-smuggling gangs, bolstering the NCA's ranks by 300 members of staff.
Despite investing political and financial capital into tackling the Channel crossing crisis, the grim migrant milestone led to a barrage of criticisms being levied at No10.
A staggering 50,000 migrants have reached British shores in just 403 days under Starmer.
PA | Photos later emerged of the 'asylum seekers' arriving at Dover harbour
Meanwhile, it took 603 days for the same number to make the perilous 21-mile journey under Sunak.
The grim milestone was also reached twice as fast as the rate of crossings under Johnson - with the former Prime Minister waiting 1,065 days until 50,000 completed the journey.
Following the confirmation that 50,000 had crossed the Channel under Starmer, Farage appeared to issue a warning about Labour's capability of dealing with the migrant crisis.
The Reform UK leader said: "As I predicted 5 years ago, unless we deport illegal migrants the invasion will be huge.
PA | Nigel Farage
"Fifty-thousand since our weak Prime Minister took office and there is no sign of it stopping."
However, Labour Minister Baroness Smith blamed the former Tory Government for Britain's "broken" borders.
She said: “It sort of demonstrates the way over the last six or seven years that the criminal gangs have got an absolute foothold in the tragic trafficking of people across the Channel."
Baroness Smith added: “I think it’s tough because the last Government enabled this hideous criminal activity to really get its roots into Europe."