Keir Starmer to unveil ‘personal mission’ to smash people-trafficking gangs using new counter terrorism-style tactics – but Tories say they mean ‘absolutely nothing’ without a wider plan like Rwanda_Nhy
Keir Starmer will today set out his ‘personal mission’ to smash people-trafficking gangs using new counter terrorism-style tactics.
The Prime Minister – who scrapped the Conservatives‘ Rwanda asylum deal as one of his first acts in office – will vow to tackle the ‘vile trade’ in Channel migrants.
Amid criticism from the Tories over his ‘weak’ record on illegal migrants – and soaring numbers of arrivals across the Channel – Sir Keir is set to pledge a series of new measures.
Labour’s new Border Security Command (BSC) will get enhanced powers to stop and search suspected human traffickers, including seizing their phones and other devices, the Daily Mail understands.
Officials will be able to obtain search warrants to seize items from premises before an offence has even taken place – powers currently reserved only for anti-terror cases.
The Prime Minister is set to unveil his ‘personal mission’ to smash people-trafficking gangs using counter-terrorism style tactics
Labour’s new Border Security Command (BSC) will get enhanced powers to stop and search suspected human traffickers. Pictured: A migrant reacts after boarding a smuggler’s inflatable dinghy in an attempt to cross the English Channel on Ecault beach in northern France on October 30
Suspected people traffickers will face invasive financial searches, as the law is changed to allow courts to grant permission for scrutiny of accounts, property and other assets, government sources said.
Serious Crime Prevention Orders will be expanded to suspected gang members before they are even convicted to restrict their access to the internet, banking and travel.
Some of the measures will see the Terrorism Act 2000 expanded to cover immigration gangs, it is understood, including allowing investigators to copy the contents of suspected smugglers’ electronic devices.
Last night the Conservatives said the proposals would ‘mean absolutely nothing’ without a wider plan – like Rwanda – to deter small boat crossings.
Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has previously said that people are dying in the Channel as a direct result of Labour ‘incompetence’ and ‘appalling decision-making’.
He added that abandoning the Rwanda plan had sent a ‘massive signal’ to trafficking gangs that Britain was ‘softening’ its border defences, fuelling a surge in small boat crossings.
In a bid to counter the criticism, the PM will today urge world leaders to ‘wake up’ to the scale of the challenge, and attempt to polish his credentials on the borders crisis.
In remarks apparently directed at Left-wing campaigners who repeatedly attempted to block Tory immigration policies, the PM will say there is ‘nothing progressive about turning a blind eye’ as migrants perish in the Channel.
Speaking in Glasgow at the annual conference of Interpol, the international policing organisation, Sir Keir will also announce he is doubling funding for the BSC to £150million.
A government spokesman described the smuggling gangs as a ‘national security threat’.
Some of the measures will see the Terrorism Act 2000 expanded to cover immigration gangs, it is understood. Pictured: A view of small boats and outboard motors used by people thought to be migrants to cross the Channel at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent
More than 30,000 migrants have made the perilous journey in small boats across the Channel so far this year (Pictured: Arrivals last month at Dover, Kent)
Officials will be able to obtain search warrants to seize items from premises before an offence has even taken place, in powers usually reserved for anti-terror cases (stock image)
‘Keir Starmer will today open the assembly in Glasgow by setting out his personal mission to smash the people smuggling gangs by resetting the UK’s whole approach to this challenge and intensifying international collaboration to meet the global scale of the threat,’ the spokesman added.
Since Labour ripped up the Rwanda deal – which was designed to save lives by deterring crossings – Channel arrivals have increased month-by-month.
More than 17,500 migrants have reached Britain since the election.
The running tally for the year is up 16 per cent to almost 32,000 compared with the same point last year.
A series of tragic deaths in the Channel in the last three weeks have brought 2024’s death toll to 59, making this the deadliest year since the crisis began at the end of 2018.
The PM is expected to say: ‘The world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge.
‘I was elected to deliver security for the British people. And strong borders are a part of that.
‘But security doesn’t stop at our borders.
‘There’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.
‘This is a vile trade that must be stamped out – wherever it thrives.
‘So we’re taking our approach to counter-terrorism – which we know works – and applying it to the gangs with our new Border Security Command.
‘We’re ending the fragmentation between policing, Border Force and our intelligence agencies.’
The counter terrorism-style powers are due to be set out in a forthcoming Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘Criminal smuggler gangs… have been getting away with it for far too long.
‘Our new Border Security Command, with the investment set out today, will mean a huge step change in the way we target these criminal gangs.’
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Keir Starmer’s announcement on tackling gangs will mean absolutely nothing without a deterrent to stop migrants wishing to make the dangerous journey across the Channel.
‘It is a shame that Starmer has not recognised the extent of the crisis in the Channel sooner, as he and the Labour Party voted against numerous measures to stop the gangs while they were in opposition.
‘If Starmer continues to ignore the need for a deterrent to stop migrants crossing the Channel, there will be more deaths as more and more migrants continue to cross.
‘He needs to get a grip.’
Part of the Government’s extra £75million for the BSC will set up a new organised immigration crime intelligence unit, to identify key developments contained in alerts from police forces.
The PM will also announce another £24million for the Home Office next year to combat international serious organised crime including drugs and firearms, trafficking, fraud and exploitation.
Some of the cash will fund special prosecutors and operations in the Western Balkans, a key trafficking hub.
Ministers have previously announced the BSC will have 300 officers, while the National Crime Agency (NCA) is to get 100 investigators and intelligence officers to concentrate on human trafficking.
NCA director general Graeme Biggar said: ‘We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks, wherever they operate.’
Interpol’s general assembly, being held in the UK for the first time in more than 50 years, is its governing body and features top law enforcement officers from 196 member states.
