Yvette Cooper spoke to Laura in Italy ahead of meetings with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government in Rome to discuss co-operation on illicit finance in the people smuggling trade.

Asked what she hopes this visit will achieve, Cooper says international cooperation is needed to "fix" Britain’s borders, and asylum and immigration systems.

Is the Labour government taking the right approach to bring down the number of crossings? Laura asks.

Cooper says current figures are a quarter lower than they were in 2022, but admits the scale is “deeply damaging”.

Earlier, Laura had a brief chat with the panel.

Many of today's papers lead on the latest in China's spying efforts, including the involvement of Prince Andrew. The Daily Mail writes that, external "the alleged Chinese spy exposed as a ‘close confidant’ of Prince Andrew boasted about visiting Downing Street and met David Cameron and Theresa May".

Broadcaster Susanna Reid suggests Andrew has "questionable judgement" over who he associates himself with, citing his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, says it's "quite a security breach... I'm staggered".

Read more: Prince Andrew says he "ceased all contact" with alleged Chinese spy.

Speaking in Rome yesterday, Laura begins by launching into questions on espionage and threats from hostile states to the UK.

Citing recent comments from the MI5 chief, she asks Home Secretary Yvette Cooper if that threat is becoming increasingly grave.

The challenges have become more complex, Cooper replies, citing “different patterns of action” from China, in addition to manoeuvring from Russia and Iran.

What would Cooper say to Chinese President Xi Jinping?

“We will continue to take a very strong approach to national security,” while also ensuring “economic interaction,” she says.

The opening credits are rolling; it's time for Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

We'll be bringing you live updates and analysis from today's show. You can also watch the programme by hitting the watch live button at the top of this page, or catch it on BBC One and iPlayer.

Image source, Getty Images

We'll soon be hearing from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

A seasoned politician, Cooper was first elected as an MP for the Yorkshire seat of Pontefract and Castleford in 1997. She went on to serve as the first female chief secretary to the Treasury and later as work and pensions secretary during the last time Labour was in power.

Cooper, who has been her current post since July when the new Labour government was elected, is responsible for immigration and asylum, national security, and also for policing in England and Wales.

So, expect lots of questions on how the government is tackling the small boats crisis.

Why? More than 20,000 people have arrived illegally on UK shores since Labour took power, up on 17,020 during the same period last year.

In addition, the Home Office says it's on track to return the highest number of failed asylum seekers in five years, with nearly 13,500 people sent to their home countries since the election.

Stay tuned.

As we prepare to hear from the home secretary about small boat crossings, let's take a look at the latest figures which show that over 20,000 people crossed the English Channel in small boats since Labour's landslide victory in July.

It comes after a significant increase in crossings in October, compared to last year, as the graph below indicates.

And while the figure for this year is lower than the record-levels in 2022, current figures are up on last year's totals.

• Read more on the latest small boat crossing figures and Labour's plans to tackle the issue

As always, Laura will be joined by a panel of guests who will analyse this week's political news and discuss what we've just heard from today's guests.

Sharing their thoughts this week will be:

• Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester
• Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid
• James Reed, chairman of recruitment firm Reed

Image source, Jeff Overs / BBC

'No nice or easy way of doing it': Labour's small boats dilemmapublished at 08:01 Greenwich Mean Time

08:01 GMT

Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

Image source, Reuters

"There isn't an easy or nice way of doing it."

It's a blunt reality check from a former Home Office minister describing one of the government's most pressing dilemmas - how to crack down on the illegal trade of smuggling people into Britain.

The prime minister, his cabinet colleagues and nearly all their political rivals agree that this trade must end.

But there's huge disagreement over what should be done.

Labour replaced Rishi Sunak's "stop the boats" slogan with its own three word mantra: "smash the gangs". One of Sir Keir Starmer's first acts was to ditch the Conservatives' plan to send people who arrived in the UK without permission straight to Rwanda.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has instead concentrated on trying to do deals with other countries to stop the criminals who exploit the distress and ambition of those desperate to come to the UK.

• You can read more of Laura's analysis on Labour's small boats dilemma here

Image source, UK Pool

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has travelled to Italy to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government in Rome to discuss cooperation on illicit finance of the people smuggling trade.

She's also met her Italian counterpart, Matteo Piantedosi, to talk about the importance of "taking an end to end approach" when it comes to tackling irregular migration.

The two leaders are said to have agreed to follow-up with commitment from both UK and Italian prime ministers in September to "follow the money" when it concerns the illicit financing of people-smuggling gangs.

Cooper's visit to Rome comes as latest figures show more than 20,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats since Labour entered office - compared to 17,020 who made the crossing between the same dates last year.

Emily Atkinson
Live reporter

Good morning. It's almost time for your weekend politics fix.

From 09:00 GMT, we'll be providing live updates on the key lines from Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, along with quickfire reaction and analysis.

Today's guests include Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary Chris Philp, OpenAI chair and co-founder of Sierra - an artificial intelligence platform for businesses - Bret Taylor.

What to watch out for: We're trailing part of Cooper's pre-recorded interview on the BBC website this morning - she says the level of "dangerous" illegal Channel crossings is "far too high" (but refuses to set out a timetable to reduce the number).

In other news: The show airs after another busy week in Westminster. There have been more farming protests, warnings from industry leaders over the government's house building drive, slack growth figures, and, of course, sandwich gate.

Looming large: The fall of the Assad regime in Syria last weekend continues to dominate, with Keir Starmer and other senior colleagues attending a series of high level meetings this week over what comes next.

We've got an hour to go before the show hits our screens - you can follow along on BBC One, BBC iPlayer or by hitting watch live at the top of this page.

Kettle on and settle in.