Labour has warned Britain is locked into a small-boat migrant crisis in the Channel just days after scrapping the Rwanda deportation scheme.
Yvette Cooper issued the alert to Cabinet colleagues yesterday as figures showed 427 people made the crossing in seven boats on Monday.
And that took the number who have arrived under the new Labour government to 1,185 since July 8.
A Cabinet read-out said: ‘The Home Secretary said that small boats crossings were at a record high in the first half of the year and indicated a difficult summer ahead.
‘Tackling illegal migration was, therefore, an important part of our European reset, where the Government is working with European partners and agencies, including Europol, to tackle criminal gang networks and work to disrupt supply chains and illegal migration upstream.’
After winning the election nearly two weeks ago, one of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts as Prime Minister was to ditch the Tories’ flagship Rwanda policy.
The Tories jumped on Ms Cooper’s comments, saying her ‘gimmicks’ for stopping the boats were ‘a waste of time’ and that Sir Keir’s alternative plan puts too much ‘faith’ in the European Union to stop illegal crossings.
The previous government had argued the Rwanda scheme was necessary for acting as a deterrent to would-be crossers as the threat of being deported to the African nation would make them think twice.
But Sir Keir will instead recruit a 1,000-strong immigration task force as part of a new Border Security Command in a bid to fast-track removals and better tackle people smuggling gangs upstream.
The issue of migration will dominate the European Political Community summit tomorrow at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire – with Sir Keir hoping to speak with leaders to build support for his new approach.
He is expected to speak to Italy’s populist right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni as well as French President Emmanuel Macron.
But former Home Secretary Suella Braverman yesterday said: ‘As we all warned, by scrapping the Rwanda plan Labour has advertised to the people smuggling gangs that it’s open season for illegal arrivals in the UK.
The gimmicks that Yvette Cooper has just announced are a waste of time and will do nothing to stop another summer of failure to secure our borders.’
Tory MP Danny Kruger said: ‘Yvette Cooper has admitted the boats will keep coming this summer. The only way to stop them is to detain and deport all illegal arrivals, either back to their own country or to a safe third country.
‘The Government is putting its faith in the EU to stop the boats for us. They won’t.’
Another Tory MP Louie French added: ‘Keir Starmer and Labour have stated they are going for economic growth.
‘But by scrapping the Rwanda policy and leaving the UK with no deterrent to illegal migration, the only growth Labour are likely to oversee this summer is to the inhumane people smugglers’ profits and the costs to hardworking UK taxpayers.
‘Countries across Europe are now looking at schemes similar to Rwanda to act as a deterrent. Labour have instead put a welcome sign on the cliffs of Dover.’
Tory MP Greg Smith added: ‘Labour has consistently criticised every action Conservatives took to combat illegal migration without a plan of their own.
‘Now they are in government, they are discovering you can’t change the world just by scrapping things.’
In the run-up to the election, migrants in Calais told how they were waiting for a Labour government before crossing.
The new PM has also previously said he hopes to negotiate an EU-wide returns agreement to try to make Britain a less attractive destination for migrants.
The idea sparked accusations Labour will oversee an extra 100,000 arrivals a year as the EU may demand that Britain takes a share of all arrivals into the bloc as part of any deal.
The provisional number of crossings for 2024 so far is 14,759, some 12 per cent higher than the volume recorded this time last year. It is also up one per cent on the same period in 2022.
Four migrants died in the Channel on Friday after their boat capsized off the northern French coast near Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Sir Keir warned last week crossings ‘can’t be changed overnight’ and conceded the situation may get worse before it gets better.
The Home Office said: ‘Everyone wants to see an end to the dangerous small-boat crossings.
‘They are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. We are taking action to smash the people smuggling gangs responsible for this trade.