Starmer Pledges English Channel Migration Crackdown

By Ellen Milligan (Bloomberg) On Thursday Keir Starmer’s government pledged to increase deportations of people with no legal right to stay in the UK to the highest rate in five years, an effort to show it is responding to Britons’ concerns about rising immigration.

The Home Office said Wednesday it will recruit as many as 100 intelligence officers at the National Crime Agency to help dismantle organized crime groups operating small boat crossings by asylum-seekers across the English Channel. It also said it would increase migrant detention capacity and crack down on firms hiring illegal workers, as the new Labour administration grapples with an issue that undermined the Conservatives under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

A total of 827 people have crossed the channel in the past week, though Labour said arrivals are lower since it took office compared to the same period last year. It also said there have been nine returns flights in the past six weeks.

The measures are part of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plan to lift the removal rate — including of asylum-seekers whose claims were rejected — to the highest level since 2018 over the next six months, according to the statement. The Home Office said that effectively means removing over 14,389 people.

Also Read: Migrant Channel Crossings Surge Amid Post-Riot Tensions In UK

“By increasing enforcement capabilities and returns, we will establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long,” Cooper said.

Immigration was a major theme in July’s general election, which Labour won in a landslide, and has continued to dominate political discourse following the outbreak of far-right, anti-immigration riots across the country this month. The disorder was triggered by misinformation about the alleged perpetrator of a deadly knife attack on a young girls at a dance class in northern England. 

During the election, Starmer promised to tackle the gangs organizing crossings by asylum-seekers, and soon after taking office he scrapped Sunak’s policy to deport migrants to Rwanda — a plan that the Tories in any case never put into action. Labour’s calculation was that Sunak had failed in his key promise to “stop the boats” and that voters were open to a new approach.

But there’s a risk for Labour if it doesn’t show progress quickly enough. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which drove the Conservatives to distraction in the run-up to the election, is determined now to make life difficult for Starmer on immigration — especially on the small boat crossings. 

Cooper’s plans were dealt an early blow following reports that her top pick to lead a new Border Security Command turned the job down. The government confirmed on Monday the recruitment process is still underway.

© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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