Migrants who prevent rescues from Channel dinghies until they reach UK waters face five years in jail under Labour plans to tackle small boats crisis_Nhy
Migrants who prevent rescues in the Channel taking place until they reach UK waters face up to five years in jail under Labour’s new law to tackle the small boats crisis.
Asylum seekers who try to stop French coastguards saving them or who rush onto overcrowded dinghies on beaches will be targeted under a new offence of endangering lives at sea.
Those arriving in English ports in dinghies will also have their mobile phones seized as part of attempts to gather more intelligence on the organised crime gangs behind the trade.
It will also become a crime to collect information on illegal crossings including looking up routes or vessels, and to handle boat parts such as engines used by the gangs.
And suspected people-smugglers will face being banned from using phones or laptops under counter-terror-style powers enabling police to intervene earlier in their investigations.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration published by the Home Office yesterday will also reverse many of the Tories‘ previous attempts to stop the boats including formally repealing the Rwanda deportation scheme.
Migrants in an overcrowded dinghy off the coast of Gravelines in France on January 17
However the power to detain children and the ban on migrants claiming modern slavery protections will remain in place despite Labour opposing them before they won the election.
It comes after close to 37,000 people crossed the Channel illegally in 2024 in what was the deadliest year on record with at least 78 deaths at sea as gangs crammed ever more people onto the flimsy boats.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘Over the last six years, criminal smuggling gangs have been allowed to take hold all along our borders, making millions out of small boat crossings.
‘This Bill will equip our law enforcement agencies with the powers they need to stop these vile criminals, disrupting their supply chains and bringing more of those who profit from human misery to justice.
‘These new counter terror-style powers, including making it easier to seize mobile phones at the border, along with statutory powers for our new Border Security Command to focus activity across law enforcement agencies and border force will turbocharge efforts to smash the gangs.’
Migrants are bought ashore from dinghies in the Channel last month
Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt added: ‘These crucial measures will underpin our enforcement action across the system, and together with our strengthened relationships with international partners, we will bring down these gangs once and for all.’
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘This is a weak Bill from a weak Government. It just re-announces steps the last Government took already, and beyond that only engages in minor tinkering – for example, taking phones off illegal immigrants when they arrive. That won’t stop the boats.
‘As the National Crime Agency said, an effective removals deterrent is needed to stop the boats, but there is nothing about a returns deterrent for all illegal migrants in Labour’s Bill.’
