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 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".