Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has vowed that the rules on migration "need to be respected and enforced" after embarking on a trip to Italy in search of answers on the crisis.

Cooper was in talks with Italian counterpart Matteo Piandetosi and the UN's refugee agency representative Chiara Cardoletti over the weekend as both Britain and Italy contend with an ever-growing stream of migrants to their shores.

The Home Secretary has said Labour has returned "over 13,000" people since the July 4 election.

While her department has said that almost 13,460 people had been removed since that date - the highest rate since 2019.

She has also promised "a big increase in enforcement on illegal working, and a wave of new technology, biometrics and body-worn cameras... into immigration enforcement, because the rules need to be respected and enforced".

The Home Secretary has said Labour has returned 'over 13,000' people since the July 4 election

Meanwhile, 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 has also been launched.

But her pledges come as GB News reveals that over 35,000 small boat migrants made it across the English Channel so far this year, while the Prime Minister has been accused of presiding over a "day of shame" as 609 people arrived in Britain on small boats in just one day.

Downing Street insists the soaring figures are part of the "chaos that this Government inherited", and has talked up its "serious, credible plan" to "smash the gangs".

Downing Street insists the soaring figures are part of the 'chaos that this Government inherited'

But Cooper's shadow counterpart Chris Philp has accused both the Home Secretary and Prime Minister of "completely failing to control our borders".

The pair "should hang their heads in shame", he said.