Keir Starmer will vow to use counter-terrorism powers to tackle the small boats crisis as he capitalises on the defection of Natalie Elphicke.
The Labour leader will pledge to “replace gimmicks with graft” to stop people making dangerous journeys across the Channel.
Mr Starmer will deliver a major speech on immigration on Friday in Ms Elphicke’s Dover constituency as he pledges to end the “talk tough, do nothing culture” of the Conservatives. She announced on Wednesday she was defecting from the Tories to Labour as Rishi Sunak’ Government is “failing to keep our borders safe and secure”.
Mr Starmer will set out plans for a new Border Security Command bringing together the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and MI5, while hiring hundreds of new specialist investigators to work across the UK and Europe to tackle human trafficking gangs.
He will vow to use his experience as the country’s top prosecutor, when he put terrorists and dangerous criminals behind bars, to make Britain “hostile territory” for people smugglers. Under his proposals, powers created in 2000 by the Terrorism Act will be used to seize and examine the mobile phones of suspected smugglers, as well as monitor their bank accounts.
Over 8,800 people have arrived on small boats across the Channel so far this year, which is a 32% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Mr Starmer said the new Border Security Command – which will be led by a former police, military or intelligence chief – will be paid for by axing the Government’s £500million Rwanda scheme, which he will warn “never will be, an effective deterrent” as it will only remove 1% of arrivals. “It’s an insult to anyone’s intelligence, and the gangs that run this sick trade are not easily fooled,” he will add.
Mr Starmer will also pledge to speed up decisions on whether people who come here are granted asylum or removed. Some 52,000 people are currently stuck in the backlog, while living in taxpayer-funded accommodation.
“We have to restore integrity and rules to our asylum system. We have to clear the backlog. That is the path – the only path – to real deterrence,” he will say. “So we will hire hundreds of new caseworkers for the Home Office – and we’ll do it immediately – we will create a new fast-track Returns and Enforcement Unit.
“We will ensure our courts can process claims quickly, and we will save the taxpayer billions. “Labour will stop the chaos. Labour will bust the backlogs. Labour will rebuild our broken asylum system.”
In contrast, he will warn that the Government’s approach to the problem has demonstrated their “rank incompetence”. The first deportation flight is expected to take off for Rwanda next month – more than two years after it was first promised by Boris Johnson.