Keir Starmer today vowed to ditch the ‘dead horse’ Rwanda scheme ‘straight away’ if he wins power – despite signs it is already having a deterrent effect.
The Labour leader hardened up his stance against the government’s Channel boats strategy as he paraded Tory defector Natalie Elphicke at a speech in her Dover constituency.
Sir Keir was introduced by Ms Elphicke as he fleshed out plans for a ‘Border Security Command’ to tackle the crisis during a visit her Dover constituency.
‘It’s fantastic to be in your constituency, welcome to the Labour Party,’ he said.
Sir Keir dismissed anger in his own ranks at the bombshell, arguing that Ms Elphicke’s switch showed ‘we’ve got a Tory party that is on its last legs… it’s out of ideas’ and urging people to be ‘less tribal in our pursuit of a better country’.
Sir Keir insisted that the issue of boat crossings must be tackled ‘upstream’, mocking Rishi Sunak for trying to ‘build a wall’ in the Channel.
The new command will bring together key agencies including the MI5, the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service. It would mark the first time that MI5 agents have been deployed in this way on the problem.
Highlighting his experience as a former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir said that there should also be new counter-terror style powers to shut off internet access and close bank accounts of suspected people-smugglers.
‘We will secure Britain’s borders. And we will also rebuild Britain’s broken asylum system,’ Sir Keir said.
However, Tories dismissed the plans for ‘yet another Labour quango’ as a ‘rearranging of the bureaucratic deckchairs’. They demanded to know where Sir Keir plans to send failed asylum seekers if not to Rwanda.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said Labour would ‘create a haven for criminal gangs’ and ‘make the UK the asylum capital of the world’.
Keir Starmer hardened his stance against the government’s Channel boats strategy as he paraded Tory defector Natalie Elphicke at a speech in Dover
Sir Keir was introduced by Ms Elphicke (pictured) as he pushed plans for a ‘Border Security Command’ to tackle the Channel crisis
Keir Starmer (pictured with Natalie Elphicke) was announcing plans to create a ‘Border Security Command’ to tackle the small boats crisis
Government sources dismissed the plans for ‘yet another Labour quango’ as a ‘rearranging of the bureaucratic deckchairs’ (file picture of migrants trying to cross the Channel last month)
Evidence has been increasing about the effect of the Rwanda plan, with Ireland complaining that large numbers of migrants are crossing the border with Northern Ireland to avoid being sent to the African state.
One migrant told Sky News he had paid smugglers £500 to be taken back to France from the UK, as he was worried about being deported to Rwanda or Iraq.
Gangs also reportedly moaned that they were running out of passengers as a result of the controversial policy.
But Sir Keir said the Rwanda scheme is an ‘absolute waste of money’ and ‘a gimmick, not a solution’ as he detailed Labour’s approach.
‘They will get flights off the ground, I don’t doubt that but I also don’t doubt it will not work,” he said.
His commitment was to ‘ending the scheme absolutely, flights and all’. ‘It is not going to work, it is an absolute waste of money. It is a gimmick, not a solution,’ he said.
‘I’m not prepared to have a government that is run on gimmicks.’
Sir Keir refused to give a target for reducing numbers crossing the Channel.
But he said he had ‘smashed’ terrorist gangs as head of the CPS and could do the same to smuggling gangs.
The Border Command would be an ‘elite force, not a Cinderella service’, he claimed.
‘We will restore serious government to our borders, tackle this problem at source and replace the Rwanda policy permanently,’ Sir Keir said.
Sir Keir said he would seek a new partnership with Europe to access real-time intelligence and that he has been to the Hague to push for a new security pact.
He said stronger powers are needed to bring smuggling gangs to justice, including powers to shut off internet access, close their bank accounts and trace their movements using intelligence agency information.
‘We use the term small boats, but the boats are not for the most part that small,’ Sir Keir said. ‘The gangs now use dinghies on a scale way beyond anything you would see for legitimate recreational activity.’
In a message to smuggling gangs, he said: ‘These shores will become hostile territory for you – we will find you. We will stop you. We will protect your victims with the Border Security Command. We will secure Britain’s borders.’
‘I dragged my party away from the allure of gesture politics. And I will do the same for Westminster,’ he said.
Ms Elphicke’s dramatic crossing of the floor at PMQs on Wednesday has caused shockwaves through Labour.
She was considered on the right of the Tories, and previously slammed the Labour leader as ‘Sir Softie’ for his approach to Channel migration.
Sir Keir trumpeted the defection as evidence that Labour has broad appeal and can take on the Conservatives in their own core issues. Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting boasted overnight that the party is talking to more prospective switchers on the government benches, with Dan Poulter already having made the change a fortnight ago.
However, critics have accused Sir Keir of turning the party into a ‘dustbin’ for Conservative right-wingers – while even normally staunch supporter Lord Kinnock has warned he needs to be careful who to accept.
Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy suffered an awkward moment on the BBC’s Question Time last night when the audience was asked whether Ms Elphicke was an ‘asset’ to her party and no-one put their hand up.
Sir Keir went to Dover to make the case for his approach to the Channel crisis
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper was in the audience, after admitting she did not know about Ms Elphicke’s defection until she actually crossed the floor in the Commons
Sir Keir’s allies have been stressing that Ms Elphicke is not standing for re-election in Dover and will not have a frontbench role or be handed a peerage. Labour’s candidate in Dover, Mike Tapp, also spoke at the event today.
Yesterday Ms Elphicke issued an apology for comments in which she appeared to blame victims after her husband Charlie Elphicke, whom she succeeded as Dover MP, was convicted of sexual assualt.
Introducing her new leader today, Ms Elphicke said Labour would provide ‘a fresh approach’ to the issue ‘that puts at its heart a commitment to border security’.
Taking questions after the speech in Dover, Sir Keir said: ‘I’m very pleased to welcome Natalie to the Labour Party. You’ve heard the reasons yourself why she took that very difficult step.’
He said he wanted his ‘changed’ party to be a place where ‘reasonably minded people, whichever way they voted in the past’ feel they can join
‘It is an invitation that we should be less tribal in the pursuit of a better country and invite people to our party who want to join in our object of national renewal,’ Sir Keir said.
Asked where he would draw the line with right-wing politicians and whether he would welcome Nigel Farage into Labour, he said ‘a list of names doesn’t help anyone but Nigel Farage wouldn’t want to join Labour’ but added that he wanted to ‘bring as many people with us as possible’
Graph showing the number of migrants that have arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel since 2019
Labour said its new Border Command would be bolstered by new counter- terror powers to smash the smuggling gangs.
A former police, military or intelligence chief will be appointed to lead the body and report to the Home Secretary.
Labour also said it would hire hundreds of specialist investigators, intelligence agents and cross-border police officers to work across the UK and Europe to protect the border.
The plans will be paid for by redirecting £75million of the allocated costs for the Rwanda scheme, which Labour has repeatedly vowed to scrap – even if it is working.
Labour has previously said it will overturn the Government’s asylum ban by considering the claims of all those who have entered the UK illegally since March last year.
Mr Cleverly said: ‘Rather than starting the flights and stopping the boats, Sir Keir Starmer’s big new idea is an amnesty for all illegal immigrants.’
A source close to the Home Secretary likened the plans to a ‘rearranging official deck chairs to create a quango directed to do work they’ve already been doing under this Government’.
The source added: ‘He’s setting himself up as a Labour King Canute claiming his hollow words can stop the waves. Meanwhile this Government will continue working to stop the boats.’
Some 211 people made the journey from France to the UK on yesterday in three boats, provisional Home Office figures show.
This suggests an average of around 70 people per boat and takes the provisional total for Channel crossings in 2024 to date to 9,037.
This is up 35 per cent on this time last year, when 6,691 crossings were recorded, and a 16% rise compared to the same period in 2022 (7,801),
