Illegal immigration must be treated like terrorism on a global scale if it to be cut, Sir Keir Starmer warned today.
The Labour PM used an international summit in London to demand greater action against criminal gangs profiting from trafficking large numbers of people, including across the Channel.
The PM, who is under pressure over record numbers making the journey from the continent so far this year, said the scale of the problem ‘makes me angry, frankly, because it’s unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price’.
He also took a swipe at the Tories, branding the Rwanda deportation scheme a ‘gimmick’ that would have taken just 300 people out of the UK.
He revealed 24,000 foreign nationals have been deported since he became PM – the most for eight years.
‘We’ve got to bring to bear all the powers we have at our disposal in much the same way that we do against terrorism,’ he said.
‘I simply don’t believe that organised immigration crime cannot be tackled.
‘So we’ve got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the smuggling journey, from North Africa and the Middle East to the high streets of our biggest cities.’
Countries including Albania, Vietnam and Iraq – from where migrants have travelled the UK – will join the talks, which are the first of their kind, alongside representatives from France, the US and China.
The PM called on the 40 countries that are gathering in London on Monday and Tuesday to work together to stop people-smuggling gangs in the same way they would terrorists.
Writing in today’s Daily Mail, the Prime Minister says international co-operation is the ‘foundation’ of securing Britain’s borders. Some £30 million of funding will be directed to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Balkans, Asia and Africa.
An extra £3 million will boost the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) capacity to prosecute smugglers and expand its international footprint.
But the Tories have cast doubt on the plan and said the Government ‘has lost control’ of Britain’s borders after record Channel crossings in the first part of this year.
Some 6,642 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year in 119 boats, including more than 4,000 this month alone.
Developments aimed at tackling illegal migration ahead of the gathering include:
Opening the summit at London’s Lancaster House, the Prime Minister said: ‘Illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity. It undermines our ability to control who comes here, and that makes people angry.
‘It makes me angry, frankly, because it’s unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price – from the cost of hotels, to our public services struggling under the strain.
‘And it’s unfair on the illegal migrants themselves, because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.’