Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has set out the first steps towards setting up a UK Border Security Command, which the government hopes will reduce small boat crossings in the English Channel.

Work to recruit an “exceptional leader” to head the body will begin on Monday, with the government preparing a bill to create counter-terror powers aimed at tackling organised immigration crime.

The Home Office says the command leader - expected to be appointed within weeks - would draw together work of intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.

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Ms Cooper said Labour would “tackle the root of the problem” by targeting the criminal smuggling gangs “making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk”.

She told broadcasters the recruitment of a new border security commander as well as new cross-border police represented a “major upgrade in law enforcement”.

Asked when small boat crossings would start going down, Ms Cooper repeatedly avoided giving any specific date, saying instead she wanted to make progress “as rapidly as possible”.