Sir Keir Starmer has been urged by a Labour peer to use the Royal Navy in the Channel to send small boats back to France. Lord Glasman, the founder of the socially conservative Blue Labour group, set out tough proposals to get a grip on the crisis.

Speaking to LBC, he said the current situation was “completely out of order”. He said: “The first thing I’d do is put the Royal Navy in the English Channel to stop the boats.”

Asked where they would then go, Lord Glasman replied: “Just turn them back to France.

“What is the problem with being in France? France is a country that’s signed up to human rights. Why are they leaving France? This is a very big question.

“Then we’ve got a really serious political problem with France. I think this is all part of the post-Brexit agenda. We’ve got to actually assert our national interests.”

He added that drones could be used to play a message to migrants telling them to turn back.

He said: “Also, very interestingly, I’ve just been to Ukraine. They claim to have drones that can target every boat.

More than 50,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since Labour came to power (Image: Getty)

“So we could just send drones out as well and say, please turn back. We are under no obligation whatsoever to take the boat and it’s been going on for much too long, and there has to be immediate action on that.”

It comes as more than 50,000 migrants have made the dangerous journey since Sir Keir, who has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind the operation, entered No 10 in July last year.

It is the quickest the milestone has been reached under any PM.

Earlier this month, the Government began detaining migrants under a new “one in, one out” deal with France.

Under the plans, an asylum seeker in France will be brought to the UK under a safe route in exchange for a small boat arrival.