Keir Starmer suggests stopping Channel boats is as vital as tackling local weather change as he urges the world to ‘get up’ to disaster
Keir Starmer suggested stopping the Channel boats is as important as tackling climate change today as he urged the world to ‘wake up’ to the crisis.
The PM insisted it is his ‘personal mission’ to bring down smuggling gangs as he unveiled a fresh push at an Interpol conference in Glasgow.
In his speech, Sir Keir laid out a series of new measures to tackle the ‘vile trade’ and said he would put the issue ‘top of the agenda again’ at a European Political Community meeting later this week.
However, critics argue that none of the measures will be effective as he has scrapped the Tories‘ Rwanda plan, which was intended to deter people from attempting the deadly crossing.
Comparing the challenge of smashing smugglers to the COP26 agreement reached in the same city in 2021, Sir Keir said: ‘If together we can win this war against the people smugglers then this gathering will have achieved a victory for humanity every bit as significant as the Glasgow Climate Pact.
‘Because you will have helped to smash the gangs, secure our borders and save countless lives.’
Keir Starmer suggested stopping the Channel boats is as important as tackling climate change today as he urged the world to ‘wake up’ to the crisis
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was also at the Interpol conference in Glasgow today
Labour’s new Border Security Command (BSC) is getting an extra £75million of funding and enhanced powers to stop and search suspected human traffickers, including seizing their phones and other devices.
Officials will be able to obtain search warrants to seize items from premises before an offence has even taken place – powers currently reserved only for anti-terror cases.
Suspected people traffickers will face invasive financial searches, as the law is changed to allow courts to grant permission for scrutiny of accounts, property and other assets, government sources said.
Serious Crime Prevention Orders will be expanded to suspected gang members before they are even convicted to restrict their access to the internet, banking and travel.
Sir Keir said there is ‘nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel’.
‘People smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism. We’ve got to combine resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream, working together to shut down the smuggling routes,’ he said.
He added: ‘When I was the director of public prosecutions, it was my personal mission to smash the terrorist gangs and we worked across borders to ensure the safety of citizens across Europe and across the world.
‘Now, as the UK’s Prime Minister, it is my personal mission to smash the people-smuggling gangs, and, look, that starts here in the UK.’
Pointing to the new border security command and upstream efforts, Sir Keir added: ‘We’re going to treat people smugglers like terrorists. So, we’re taking our approach to counter terrorism, which we know works, and applying it to the gangs.’
Sir Keir said the international community must do ‘everything possible’ to stop people-smuggling.
He said: ‘The only way to defeat this vital trade and save lives is to stop people being smuggled here in the first place, and that means doing everything possible to deepen our cross-border co-operation.
‘So, international agreements matter. We have to use every tool that we have – operational, diplomatic, political – to join up our response.’
He cited an agreement with France to increase intelligence sharing, a treaty that the UK is negotiating with Germany and work with Italy that includes dismantling supply chains for maritime equipment.
Sir Keir added: ‘As part of the UK’s wider reset with the European Union, we are seeking a new security pact, including restoring access to real-time intelligence sharing networks.
Migrants attempting to cross the Channel at the end of last month
‘At the European political community this Thursday in Hungary, I’ll be putting this issue at the top of the international agenda once again.’
Downing Street insisted the Government wants to see small boat crossing numbers falling, but would not reveal if ministers have a target.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman insisted the Government is ‘going to make progress as rapidly as is possible’ on migrant crossings, pointing to its record of 9,400 returns recorded since Labour took power.
But he would not be drawn into revealing if the Government has a target for when crossings will start to reduce, telling reporters: ‘I am not going to set out new targets here today. You have got the manifesto commitment, you have got the Prime Minister’s words. Clearly the Government’s ambition is to reduce small boats crossings and that is why we are putting significant resource focus into this crisis.’
Asked if the Government would be satisfied were numbers making the crossing to remain the same next year, he replied: ‘No, the Government wants to do everything it can to reduce small boats crossings.
‘It inherited a situation where small boats crossings before the election were up 18% on the same period from the year before. That is not an acceptable position and that is a reflection of the system in chaos, and that is why the Government is focused on putting in place the practical steps that will bring small boats crossings down.’
