PM Keir Starmer announces extra £75m to tackle people smugglers

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced an extra £75m to tackle people-smuggling gangs.

The cash boost takes funding for the UK’s new Border Security Command (BSC) to a total of £150m for new tech hubs, as well as extra enforcement, intelligence and prosecution staff.

In a speech to the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow, Sir Keir called on global leaders to “wake up to the severity” of the challenge smuggling presents to border security.

But former immigration chief Kevin Saunders said the changes would not deter illegal migrants from coming to the UK and stop small boat crossings.

Sir Keir wants to apply a counter-terrorism approach to border security and end “fragmentation” between policing, Border Force and intelligence agencies.

Anti-terror police have enhanced stop and search powers and can obtain search warrants to seize items from premises before an offence has even taken place.

The BSC, led by Martin Hewitt, will be provided with enhanced powers through a new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – to make it easier to detect, disrupt and deter those involved in organised immigration crime.

In a speech to the summit, which brings together senior police and ministers from nearly 200 Interpol member countries, the prime minister said: “I was elected to deliver security for the British people and strong borders are a part of that – but security doesn’t stop at our borders.

“There’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.”

However, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Saunders, who was chief immigration officer for ports, said “unfortunately what the prime minister is trying to do is not feasible”.

The UK would only be able to prosecute and jail people smugglers “in the UK and the majority of people smugglers are actually based in the Middle East and Turkey”, Mr Saunders said.

Under the UK’s asylum system “you can’t deport failed asylum seekers” who destroy documents, Mr Saunders said.

Without official documents, the UK is often unable to prove the asylum seekers country of origin meaning their home countries will refuse to take them.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “It is a shame that Starmer has not recognised the extent of the crisis in the Channel sooner, as he and the Labour Party voted against numerous measures to stop the gangs while they were in opposition.”

More than 5,400 people crossed the Channel in small boats in October – the highest monthly figure since October 2022.

In total, more than 27,500 people have made the crossing so far this year, more than the same period in 2023.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the high number of crossings in October was linked to unusually fair weather.

However, she told the BBC the government could not just blame weather conditions for spikes in illegal immigration and had to “go after the criminal gangs at the heart of this”.

Pressed over when a drop in small boat crossings could be expected, Cooper would not commit to a specific target.

She added that it would take time to get investigators and new technology in place but the government wanted to make progress “as rapidly as possible”.

Sir Keir cancelled the Rwanda deportation scheme, which was the Conservative government’s plan to discourage Channel crossings.

The prime minister is adamant that the kinds of things he will be talking about on Monday will do a better job.

Sir Keir revealed on Monday that the UK will also increase its funding for Interpol’s by £6m for global efforts against organised drug crime.

The Home Office will also invest £24m in the new financial year to tackle international organised crime affecting the UK, including drugs and firearms, fraud, trafficking and exploitation.

Funds will in part be used to bolster work done by special prosecutors and operational partners in the Western Balkans.