Yvette Cooper’s plan to sort out unlawful migration is branded ‘a farce’
Labour’s flagship border security announcement was condemned as a ‘farce’ last night amid a catalogue of confusion over Yvette Cooper‘s new target to deport failed asylum seekers.
The Home Secretary pledged the number of removals of failed applicants and others with no right to be in Britain will increase to the ‘highest level since 2018’ – levels already exceeded under the Conservatives last year.
Figures show there were 24,938 removals – enforced and voluntary – in 2018. In 2023, the figure was 26,264.
A Labour spokesman said the target applied to total removals from July to December only. But, again, the figure for the second half of 2018 – 11,528 – was beaten by nearly 3,000 in the same period last year, when 14,389 foreign nationals were removed from the country under the Tories.
After being challenged over the figures, a Home Office spokesman later said the target was to remove more people than any six-month period since 2018, including from April to September last year when 14,484 were removed.
Yvette Cooper’s border security announcement was branded a ‘farce’ amid confusion over her new deportation targets
The Home Secretary said that removals of failed applicants would be at the ‘highest level since 2018’- levels already exceeded by the Conservatives last year
Yet again, however, that figure was exceeded under the Tories between October and March this year, with 14,703.
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister and Tory leadership hopeful, said: ‘This farcical target shows Labour are completely clueless about border security. Less than two months in and it’s already a shambles. They’ve scrapped… the Rwanda policy and their border security unit is still without a commander.’
He added: ‘Sir Keir Starmer has surrendered to the people smuggling gangs and it’s the British public who will pay the price.’
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK which campaigns for tougher border controls, said: ‘The Government has either screwed up by failing to analyse the figures, or it is trying to deceive the public. Neither is acceptable.’
Ms Cooper also announced ‘up to 100’ officers will join the National Crime Agency to target trafficking gangs by the end of the year –a 33 per cent rise on current numbers deployed on border security.
In addition, 300 extra Home Office caseworkers have been redeployed to process removals. In a further move, Ms Cooper said she was increasing the capacity of immigration removals centres, including 290 spaces at Campsfield House, near Oxford, and Haslar at Gosport, Hants.
The reopening of the disused centres was first announced by the Conservatives in 2022.
Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick said that Labour was ‘completely clueless’ on border security and called the Government’s plans a ‘shambles’
A drone picture of an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants towards Britain in the Channel. Ms Cooper said that staff were being ‘urgently recruited’ for the Government’s new Border Security Command
There will also be a new ‘intelligence-driven programme’ to target employers who hire illegal workers.
Ms Cooper said: ‘We are taking strong and clear steps to boost our border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced. Our new Border Security Command is already gearing up, with new staff being urgently recruited and additional staff already stationed across Europe.’
She vowed to establish a system that is ‘better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long’.
But shadow home secretary James Cleverly, also running to be Tory leader, said the measures fail to even ‘scratch the surface’, insisting: ‘Labour clearly aren’t serious about tackling the people smugglers or stopping the boats.’
It came as the Home Office confirmed 206 migrants crossed the Channel by small boat on Monday, bringing the total this year to 19,294.
