Keir Starmer has warned that the number of migrants arriving in small boats is likely to increase in the near future.
The Prime Minister said his plan to ‘smash’ the people-smuggling gangs would eventually ‘stop those crossings’ but admitted it could take years.
He refused to guarantee the boats will have been stopped by the next election.
Speaking to reporters on a trip to Washington DC, the Prime Minister said: ‘Nobody but nobody should be making these crossings. The numbers are going up, not down. That is why we want to smash the gangs to stop those crossings.
‘What I’m not going to do is pick an arbitrary date, an arbitrary number because that hasn’t worked in the past. But I do want to be clear that my intention is to break down the gangs that are running this vile trade putting people into boats on the coast of France.’
Already in Sir Keir’s short time as PM, 484 migrants have reached Britain via the Channel – 419 in six small boats on Tuesday and 65 in a single boat on Monday, according to the Home Office.
Sir Keir scrapped the last government’s Rwanda scheme within 48 hours of coming to office, despite warnings it would remove a possible deterrent.
The PM has also indicated that tens of thousands of migrants barred from claiming asylum by the last government could now be allowed to stay.
But yesterday he insisted that his plan to use a new Border Security Command to tackle the people-smuggling gangs would bear fruit.
‘I have always said the previous government’s Rwanda policy was a gimmick, it wouldn’t be a deterrent,’ he said.
Sir Keir said the command would have a ‘rich mix of security and intelligence, alongside prosecutors, alongside law enforcement’. He added: ‘And we will get on with the recruitment and setting up that command at speed.’
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly said: ‘Without any deterrent, we can sadly only expect to see more [arrivals] in future.’