More migrants have been removed from the UK since Labour was elected than in any other six-month period over the past five years, the government has claimed.

The Home Office announced today that almost 13,460 people had been removed since Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won by a landslide in July.

It claimed the government was “on track” to deliver on its pledge to return more people who do not have a right to stay in the UK halfway through their first year in office than any other six-month period since 2018. The goal would need to be met by early January.

But while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claims her party had “intensified” border security measures since being elected, some 21,306 migrants have arrived by small boat since 5 July – the day after Labour was voted in.

On Thursday alone, there were 609 arrivals, making it the busiest December day for crossings on record.

Some 34,880 people have arrived in the UK on small boats so far this year, up 20% on this time last year but down 22% on 2022.

The Conservatives highlighted the number of Channel crossings is higher than the same period last year, saying Sir Keir and Ms Cooper were “failing to control our borders and should hang their heads in shame”.

Ms Cooper, who visited Rome yesterday for talks with her Italian counterpart on people-smuggling, pledged a crackdown on “exploitative” illegal working to address “the promise of illegal jobs that are used by criminal smuggling gangs to sell spaces in small boats”.

Some of the measures being adopted to crack down on illegal migration include new technology such as body-worn cameras and fingerprint kits, which will be rolled out next year to more than 1,200 immigration enforcement officers to strengthen evidence that can be collected in raids, the government said.

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The government also said it launched a new “upstream communications campaign” aimed at debunking lies about job prospects in the UK told by people-smuggling gangs to encourage small boat crossings.

Ms Cooper said: “Illegal working is a blight on our economy. It is deeply exploitative and undercuts those employers who do the right thing and play by the rules.

“Since the election, we have intensified our efforts to crack down on exploitation and illegal working – the number of operations and arrests are up, and we are on track to meet our target of increasing removals to the highest level for five years.”

Matt Vickers, shadow Home Office minister, told Sky News in response to the new figures: “These aren’t good returns because they’re not returning the people who are arriving in the country illegally.

“These are people who were caught on illegal working raids – which is what we brought in while we (the Conservatives) were in office might I add.”

He added the deals with Italy and Albania are “just carrying on what we were doing”.