Sir Keir Starmer has said 24,000 people who “have no right to be here” have been returned since Labour took power as he opened the government’s border security summit.

The prime minister said it was the “highest return rate for eight years”.

Politics latest: UK has been ‘soft touch on migration’, says Starmer

Since Labour took office last July, 29,884 people have been detected crossing the Channel on 542 small boats.

A total of 6,642 people crossed between 1 January to 30 March this year – a 43% increase on the same time last year, when the Conservatives were in power.

Crossings this year passed 5,000 on 21 March, a record compared with the previous seven years since the first crossings in 2018 – and 24% higher than 2024, and 36% higher than 2023.

Interior ministers and law enforcement from more than 40 countries, including the US, Iraq, Vietnam and France, are at the summit at Lancaster House in central London.

Meta, X and TikTok representatives are also there to discuss how to tackle the online promotion of illegal migration.

Sir Keir told the gathering he was “angry” about the scale of illegal immigration around the world as he said it was a “massive driver of global insecurity”.

“The truth is, we can only smash these gangs once and for all if we work together,” he said.

“Because this evil trade, it exploits the cracks between our institutions. It pits nations against one another. It profits from our inability at the political level to come together.”

He said people smuggling should be treated as a global security threat similar to terrorism.

“None of these strategies, as you know, are a silver bullet. I know that,” he told the summit.

“But each of them is another tool, an arsenal that we’re building up to smash the gangs once and for all.”

Analysis: Stop the boats, stop Reform UK

Mhari Aurora

Political correspondent

@MhariAurora

In a speech at the organised immigration crime summit, Sir Keir Starmer pointedly told global delegates there is nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to people smuggling.

This is as much a direct challenge to other nations as it is to those in his party who may be uncomfortable with talk of cracking down on illegal migration and making it harder to claim asylum in the UK.

In an effort to front up to the problem, the PM and home secretary both outlined the deep complexities involved in stopping the boats; interrupting supply chains, financial sanctions on gangs and blocking social media content advertising routes to the UK.

Labour’s message? Bear with us, this is harder than it looks.

But, with public patience wearing dangerously thin on small boats crossings after endless promises from Labour and the Conservatives, and with record numbers crossing the Channel – a 43% rise on this time last year – the prime minister knows he has very little time to persuade the public he can deliver.

Senior government sources tell me they are far more worried about Reform UK denting their vote share than they are about the Conservatives – and the PM’s message today indicates just that.

In his speech, Sir Keir twice cited what he called the unfairness of illegal migration: driving down working people’s wages, terms and conditions, and putting valuable public services under strain.

This shift in tone, directly juxtaposing working people with migrants, feels like a subtle yet significant tilt to voters who may be tempted by Nigel Farage’s rhetoric on migration.

However, we may begin to see some Labour MPs fidgeting in their seats as it is sure to make some of them a little uncomfortable.

Sir Keir appears to be marching up the hill the Tories died on. So will this all too familiar hike prove fatal, or will he succeed where Rishi Sunak failed?

And if Sir Keir does succeed and manages to make a significant dent in the number of small boat crossings before the next general election, Reform may not prove to be as lethal an opponent as first thought.

UK has been a ‘soft touch on migration’

The prime minister criticised the previous Conservative government for allowing illegal migration to soar, saying: “For too long the UK has been a soft touch on migration.”

He said a lack of co-ordination between the police and intelligence agencies had been an “open invitation” for people smugglers to send migrants to the UK.

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Cooper reveals small boats gang tactics

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also spoke at the event, where she revealed some of the horrifying tactics used by gangs smuggling people over to the UK in small boats.

She said they place women and children in the middle of the flimsy rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), and when they collapse due to overcrowding, they fold in and crush them.

“All of your countries will have different stories of the way in which the gangs are exploiting people into sexual exploitation, into slave labour, into crime, the way in which the gangs are using new technology,” she said.

She said they were not just using phones and social media to organise crossings, but also drones to spot border patrols.

“It is governments and not gangs who should be deciding who enters our country,” she said.

Sir Keir also hosted a roundtable discussion joined by border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle, Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt and Home Office, Border Force and National Crime Agency officials.

Ministers ‘disappointed’ in small boat numbers

Before the summit, Dame Angela told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast ministers were “disappointed” in the number of small boat crossings in recent months.

She said one reason was more people were being packed into each boat. She also said smuggler gangs have been allowed to grow “very sophisticated” global networks over many years.

Earlier, Ms Cooper announced £30m funding for “high impact operations” by the Border Security Command (BSC) to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Western Balkans, Asia and Africa.

An additional £3m will be given to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to increase its capacity to prosecute organised international smugglers and to support the BSC to pursue and arrest those responsible for people smuggling operations.

The boss of Primark has resigned after admitting an “error of judgement” in his behaviour towards a woman in a social environment.

Paul Marchant stepped down as chief executive of the high-street fashion brand with immediate effect following an investigation.

Primark‘s parent firm, Associated British Foods (ABF), said he had co-operated with the investigation, and “acknowledged his error of judgment and accepts that his actions fell below the standards expected by ABF”.

“He has made an apology to the individual concerned, the ABF board and also to his Primark colleagues and others connected to the business,” the firm added.

The group’s overall chief executive, George Weston, said he is “immensely disappointed”.

“At ABF, we believe that high standards of integrity are essential,” he said in a statement.

“Acting responsibly is the only way to build and manage a business over the long term.

“Colleagues and others must be treated with respect and dignity.

“Our culture has to be, and is, bigger than any one individual.”

ABF’s finance director, Eoin Tonge, will take over as chief executive on an “interim basis” – and his role will be taken up by Joana Edwards, the group’s financial controller.

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The group’s statement added it “seeks to provide a safe, respectful, and inclusive work environment where all employees and third parties are treated with dignity and respect”.

“Primark is committed to doing business the right way at all levels of the company,” it said.

ABF promised to continue supporting the woman who made the complaint.

Primark results due soon

The group will still publish its interim results for the financial year as planned on 29 April, according to its statement.

In January, ABF reported an uncharacteristic decline in like-for-like sales at Primark across the UK and Ireland.

Sales at the store fell by 6% – with Primark saying it expects “low single-digit” sales growth for 2025 as a result – down from mid single-digit levels in November 2024.

Speaking at the time, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “If Primark is struggling, you know the UK retail sector is in trouble.”

A British explorer has become the first woman to complete a solo traverse of Canada’s Baffin Island.

Camilla Hempleman-Adams, 32, pulled a sledge 150 miles in temperatures as low as -40C and winds as high as 47mph.

She finished the trek from Qikiqtarjuaq to Pangnirtung in 13 days – a day ahead of schedule.

The largely uninhabited Arctic island is the fifth largest in the world and is in far northwest Canada – between the mainland and Greenland.

Speaking from the Inuit hamlet of Pangnirtung, Ms Hempleman-Adams said: “I’m feeling pretty exhausted, I have very sore feet, but it’s nice to be back in civilisation, just slowly settling back in.

“It’s been a really tough two weeks, but an incredible two weeks.”

“When you go in by yourself, you just have a mindset to keep going,” she said.

“You adapt, you have the mindset that you can’t give up. There is no giving up in those conditions.”

She admitted she had been looking forward to a hot shower.

Her father, adventurer Sir David Hempleman-Adams, flew out to meet her at the finish line.

He said he’d been “really, really worried” due to the strong winds – which increase the chance of frostbite.

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“Being solo, you’ve got to be really on top of your game the whole time. If you just lose concentration for five minutes, it’s a real problem,” he said.

Sir David added: “It’s a fantastic advertisement for females. I mean, we are big, ugly and strong, but she’s half my weight and did it twice as fast as I did.”

Ms Hempleman-Adams also became the youngest British female to ski to the North Pole when she was just 15.