Britain's public services are "struggling under the strain" of illegal immigration, says Sir Keir Starmer.
Opening a summit in London on tackling illegal immigration, the Prime Minister told of his “anger” at the scale of the movement of people being partly driven by criminal gangs.
Speaking at Lancaster House, in the city centre, he said: "Illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity. It undermines our ability to control who comes here, and that makes people angry.
"It makes me angry, frankly, because it's unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price - from the cost of hotels, to our public services struggling under the strain.
"And it's unfair on the illegal migrants themselves, because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs."
Some of Sir Keir’s rhetoric, which appeared close to echoing language used by Reform UK’s Nigel Farage, may startle some Labour activists and supporter.
Around two thirds of people who cross the Channel in “small boats” have in past years been granted asylum in Britain.
The Government has so far failed to slow the number of “small boats” crossings, with a record number of arrivals this year, around 6,000, which border minister Dame Angela Eagle admitted may continue into the summer.
Sir Keir was calling on the 40 countries that are gathering in London on Monday and Tuesday to work together to stop people-smuggling gangs in the same way they would terrorists.
Countries including Albania, Vietnam and Iraq, from where migrants have travelled the UK, will join the talks in London, alongside representatives from France, the US and China.
Ministers and enforcement staff will discuss international co-operation on illegal migration, as well as supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for people smuggling during the meeting.
Officials from social media companies Meta, X and TikTok will also join discussions on how to crack down on the online promotion of irregular migration.
Some £33 million will be spent to disrupt people-smuggling networks and boost prosecutions, ministers will announce, including on paying foreign prosecutors to hunt people smugglers across the world, according to the Times newspaper.
The Prime Minister pointed to his time working across borders to foil terrorists when he was director of public prosecutions.
He said: “I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the same way.
“I simply do not believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled. We’ve got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people-smuggling routes.”
Developments aimed at tackling illegal migration ahead of the gathering include:
– The Government will expand right-to-work checks to cover gig economy workers by making amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Businesses that do not carry out the checks could be fined up to £60,000, or face closures, director disqualifications, and even up to five years in prison.
– Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signalled she wanted to crack down on the number of people who have arrived in the UK on a student or work visa and have since claimed asylum.
– The Government is reviewing how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, applies to migration cases.
– Some £1 million in UK funding will go towards strengthened efforts to root out people-smuggling kingpins in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the Home Office announced.
– The UK has launched an advertising campaign on Vietnamese social media and messenger app Zalo, warning people about trusting people-smuggling gangs in an effort to reduce irregular migration from the south-east Asian country.
Senior Tory shadow minister Alex Burghart said Labour should never have scrapped the Rwanda deportation plan, which was aimed at deterring migrants from making the English Channel crossing in small boats.
