People smugglers have become “emboldened” by Labour’s small boats plan, Robert Jenrick has warned.

The former immigration minister – commenting while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was in Budapest to sign new intelligence agreements with Western Balkan nations – insisted “you can’t arrest your way out of this”.

He added that “Labour have turned the small boats crisis into the big boats crisis”.

On Tuesday, 263 people crossed in just four boats, reinforcing warnings from the Home Office and border experts that smugglers are using larger, more dangerous dinghies.

And Mr Jenrick, who fought much of his Tory leadership campaign on migration, warned: “Labour have turned the small boats crisis into the big boats crisis.

“The average number of illegal migrants on a boat has hit 65 and rising.

“People smugglers are emboldened.

“You can’t arrest your way out of this – you need a deterrent that breaks the entire business model.”

Richard Chambers, director of organised and emerging crime at Interpol warned the threat people smugglers pose to Britain is “growing” as they will try to exploit war and global crises.

Mr Chambers admitted he couldn’t say when the number of migrants crossing the Channel would begin to fall as the organised crime gangs are “developing fast”.

Growing tensions around the world “fuel a lot of this activity because the reality is, people seek a better place of safety”, he said, adding: “Organised crime groups exploit that. They exploit those vulnerabilities, and they don’t care about the consequences.”

A total of 3,197 people made the journey between October 24 and November 6, Home Office figures show.

This is the busiest 14-day period of crossings for the year so far, according to analysis.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday signed new agreements to intercept criminal gangs smuggling migrants through the Western Balkans as part of efforts to bring down small boat crossings.

Sir Keir announced deals to boost intelligence sharing, expertise and co-operation with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo at a meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday.

He also urged European partners to take action to reduce deaths in the Channel during small boat crossings and tell them that lawful, international co-operation will be key to efforts.

Some 307 people made the journey in five boats on Wednesday, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 31,842.

This is up 19% on this time last year (26,699) but down 20% on 2022 (39,929), a record high year for crossings.

The crossings come as four bodies were discovered in the water off the coast of Calais across Tuesday and Wednesday, the French coastguard said.

Former Immigration Minister Kevin Foster added: “These types of agreements aren’t unwelcome, sharing information or to try and identify criminals.

“Just having intelligence sharing, yes, it will help, but it isn’t fundamentally going to change the situation in the Channel because many of those arriving are from countries like Afghanistan and Syria, where in reality, to try to return to those countries is actually the challenge.

“And that’s why third-country agreements… and genuine resettlement of those coming through safe and democratic countries does need to be looked at.

“You do need an answer to the fundamental question – what do you do with someone when you decide they shouldn’t be in your country but they have come from another safe country to effectively choose to claim asylum here in the UK.”

Sir Keir has vowed the Government would “treat people smugglers like terrorists” as he announced an extra £75 million for his border security command during a speech at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow on Monday.

The next day the ringleader of a “prolific” people smuggling gang thought to be behind 10,000 Channel crossings was jailed for 15 years in a French court, with 17 other members of the network also convicted.

Mirkhan Rasoul, a 26-year-old Iraqi-Kurd, was one of 18 defendants involved in a Europe-wide racket focused on making huge profits from the trade in human life.

Julie Carros, the lead prosecutor, described Rasoul as a “merchant of death”.

The gang controlled most of the Channel crossings from the French coast, bringing in equipment and clients from all over Europe.

Rasoul was so powerful in the criminal underworld that he was able to control the gang from his prison cell in France.

“We found three mobile telephones in his cell,” said Ms Carros, adding that intercepted phone calls proved Rasoul “frequently boasted about his work”.

“Day and night”, the phone interceptions in his cell showed that he was constantly organising crossings of the Channel, which proved his role as “network leader” but also his “feeling of omnipotence”, according to the prosecutor.

The group was prosecuted in the wake of a 2022 police operation across Europe which led to dozens of arrests in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, with more than 100 boats, 1,000 life jackets, engines and cash being seized.