Yvette Cooper has vowed to make it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs in the ‘gig economy’, admitting it was ‘too easy’.

The Home Secretary said those found to be illegally employing migrants who are blocked from working face up to five years in prison, huge fines or have their firms closed down.

She spoke out ahead of an international summit in London tomorrow about tackling criminal gangs.

Ministers and enforcement staff from 40 countries will meet in London on Monday and Tuesday next week to discuss international co-operation, supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for dangerous journeys. 

Ms Cooper told the Telegraph: ‘We are restoring order to the asylum system. This means introducing tough laws and stopping rogue employers in their tracks. 

‘We will clamp down on the jobs on tap that undercut the labour market.’ 

Speaking to The Times, Ms Cooper also 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.

But the Conservatives said Labour’s claims of being tough on immigration were ‘risible’.

The Home Secretary said those found to be illegally employing migrants who are blocked from working face up to five years in prison, huge fines or have their firms closed down.

But the Conservatives said Labour’s claims of being tough on immigration were ‘risible’.

A record number of people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year.

Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘This is the wrong end of the problem.

‘The fact of the matter is that when the Government came into power last summer, it scrapped the (Rwanda) deterrent programme that we had set up, that we had been in the process of implementing.

‘It was ready to go, and Labour came in, they won a majority, and they scrapped it. There is now no deterrent programme.’

Countries including Albania, Vietnam and Iraq – where migrants have travelled from to the UK – will join the talks as well as France, the US and China.

A record number of people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year.

Small boat journeys across the English Channel are part of a wider problem of organised immigration crime driving movements to make profit.

More than 8,000 adverts on social media were taken down last year where smugglers were promoting crossings, before moving to encrypted channels.

Some 600 engines were seized and hundreds of people arrested for facilitating journeys in efforts to crack down on smuggling gangs.

Law enforcement agencies trying to break smugglers’ business models are believed to have forced up the cost for engines and boats to £14,000 from the low thousands in a bid to make it economically unsustainable to carry on.

Shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme : ‘This is the wrong end of the problem.’

Criminal finances will be a focus of discussions, which will look at how to follow the money of smugglers globally and to share approaches from different countries.

Hundreds of millions are believed to be transferred illicitly through the Hawala system, for example, which is a legitimate means of transferring money around the world, but is also used in payments linked to Channel crossings.

The Government is also expanding right to work checks to cover casual, temporary workers in amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.

The legislation is continuing through Parliament with plans to introduce new criminal offences and hand counter terror-style powers to police and enforcement agencies to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.

The addition announced on Sunday will widen the right to work scheme for gig economy workers not currently covered in existing laws.

Liable businesses could be fined up to £60,000, or face closures, director disqualifications, and even up to five years in prison, if checks are not carried out.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘Turning a blind eye to illegal working plays into the hands of callous people smugglers trying to sell spaces on flimsy, overcrowded boats with the promise of work and a life in the UK.

‘These exploitative practices are often an attempt to undercut competitors who are doing the right thing.

‘But we are clear that the rules need to be respected and enforced.

‘These new laws build on significant efforts to stop organised immigration crime and protect the integrity of our borders, including increasing raids and arrests for illegal working and getting returns of people who have no right to be here to their highest rate in half a decade.’