Keir Starmer’s new borders chief vows to chop small boat crossings to ‘zero’ and ‘maintain the system to account’ to cease Channel migrants

Sir Keir Starmer’s new borders chief has vowed to cut small boat crossings to ‘zero’.

Martin Hewitt, the head of Labour’s new Border Security Command (BSC), said he recognised there would be ‘scepticism’ about the Government’s plans to combat the Channel crisis.

But he insisted he would ‘hold the system to account’ to stop small boat migrants from reaching the UK.

He is the first public official to make such a pledge under the new Government, whose ministers have refrained from repeating the Conservatives’ ‘stop the boats’ and have instead spoken of ‘smashing the gangs’.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail – his first since taking up the job – Mr Hewitt said: ‘Of course my objective would be to reduce it to zero.

‘That’s what I’m setting out to achieve. But I am realistic. This challenge has been around for some considerable time. And there is no simple, one single thing, we can do.’

He added: ‘I understand that people are sceptical, but we’ve got a very clear determination of what BSC is there to deliver.’

Mr Hewitt disclosed details of the first meeting of ‘20-plus’ different government departments and agencies last week, including the intelligence services, counter-terrorism police and the National Crime Agency.

Martin Hewitt, the head of Labour’s Border Security Command (BSC), said he would ‘hold the system to account’ to stop small boat migrants from reaching the UK

Mr Hewitt refused to be drawn on reports he advised the Prime Minister that the UK’s plan should include a deterrent like the Rwanda scheme

Migrant crossing numbers continue to soar, with nearly 20,000 occurring since Labour came to power in July

Senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, Foreign Office and HMRC also attended, he said.

He said his role involves ‘pulling that system together’ and ‘holding the whole system to account’.

Mr Hewitt, former head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, suggested that producing better intelligence about the crime gangs’ activities will lead to better results.

‘Organised criminals are making significant amounts of money on the back of other people’s misery; you’ve got all the implications for all the countries through which it passes. And people are dying,’ he said.

‘My ambition, obviously, is to stop this.

‘We’ve got to do everything that we can do to stop this as a trade.

Mr Hewitt refused to be drawn on reports, which emerged in September, that he advised the Prime Minister that a deterrent like the Rwanda scheme had to be part of the UK’s overall plan.

‘That is not something that I ever said in those terms,’ he said.

‘But being very clear and going out there and talking about what we are going to be doing is absolutely deterrence to the organised crime groups.’

Two weeks ago Sir Keir spoke of negotiating a new ‘security pact’ with the European Union, to allow British law enforcement to lead anti-smuggling operations on the Continent for the first time since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU

Mr Hewitt would not be drawn on reports that he discussed the possible implementation of a Tory-style Rwanda policy with the Prime Minister

Mr Hewitt previously served as the chairman of the National Police Chiefs Council

Two weeks ago Sir Keir spoke of negotiating a new ‘security pact’ with the European Union, to allow British law enforcement to lead anti-smuggling operations on the Continent for the first time since the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Mr Hewitt said there must be improvements ‘at the political level, at my level and at the operational law enforcement level, because this is a problem for all of us’.

Stressing the ‘absolutely critical’ importance of working closely with other countries, he said: ‘It’s been very clear to me from the absolute outset that if we’re going to be successful we need to project the border away from the border, from northern France and southern England.

‘We’ve got to be impacting on the criminal groups that are delivering people all the way from source countries, through transit countries, through the area around the Channel, and then equally in the UK as well.’

He added: ‘I don’t underestimate that there’s no quick fix that allows that to happen.

‘But it’s about applying all of the things that I’ve said, and continually applying them – and me being able to put pressure on all parts of the system.

‘I’m confident that we have made the start that we need to make.’

Between Labour came to power and Monday, 19,988 migrants crossed the Channel by small boat, up 23 per cent on the same period last year.