Labour might as well say: 'Come to Britain and we'll let you stay'

Keir Starmer came to power promising to smash the people smuggling gangs. The only thing he has smashed is the British people's sense of justice and fair play over illegal migration. He posed as the champion of tough border controls after years of Tory inaction. Labour, he said, would ‘stop the chaos and go after the criminal gangs who trade in driving this crisis'. How utterly hollow that sounds now, six months after his landslide. The party's pledges are in tatters, its credibility has collapsed.

Far from resolving the crisis generated by illegal crossings over the English Channel, the new Government has actually made the problem worse, as highlighted by the latest truly shocking statistics from the Home Office. Between December 25 and 28 alone, no fewer than 1,485 migrants reached Britain, making this the busiest Christmas period since official records of the Channel racket began in 2018. Altogether in 2024, a total of 36,816 people made the perilous journey to our shores, a rise of 20 per cent on the previous year.

Astonishingly, this brings the total since 2018 to more than 150,000, enough to almost fill a town the size of Reading with illegal migrants who are breaking the rules. Labour's plan, put simply, is not working. As everybody who is anybody in the world of border security knows, the surge of crossings is a direct consequence of the Government's approach. Starmer, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and ministers like to peddle their slogan ‘smashing the gangs', but it will never happen as long as illegal migrants know there is little chance they will be deported.

Just look at Labour's record. They've already granted asylum to two-thirds of people who applied for it in ‘soft-touch Britain'. You might as well put a big bright open neon sign signopen neon sign neon bar sign love neon sign custom name neon sign neon hello sign café neon light gamer neon light chill zone neon light music note neon happy hour sign positive neon light studio light neon baby name in neon vintage open light home bar neon heart neon sign bespoke name sign neon hello sign café neon light player zone neon guy cave neon DJ booth light martini neon light positive neon light studio light neon soft pastel neon sign vintage open light pub neon sign neon love sign name-in-lights sign neon welcome sign coffee bar neon gamer neon light guy cave neon DJ booth light cocktail hour neon happy neon sign podcast sign neon cute kids neon neon open sign pub neon sign love light decor personalized neon light greeting neon light espresso neon sign video game room neon men’s room neon music note neon martini neon light feel good sign podcast sign neon cute kids neon bar neon sign neon love sign custom word neon neon hello sign café neon light game room neon sign guy cave neon neon guitar sign cocktail hour neon good vibes neon on air neon sign baby name in neon (justpaste.it published an article) sign on the White Cliffs of Dover that reads: ‘If you come we will let you stay!' Without the legal capacity or political will to remove people who have no right to be here, the demand for crossings will remain - and so will the traffickers who ruthlessly exploit it. The occasional seizure of an inflatable dinghy in Germany and arrest of a smuggler in France are little more than publicity stunts designed to give the illusion of a crackdown.

A British Border Force vessel picking up an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants in front of the white cliffs of Dover Only an active deterrent will break this illicit trade in human cargo. For all their other weaknesses, the Conservatives recognised that truth. That is why they put together the Rwanda scheme, whereby the central African republic was to be used for accommodating deportees and processing asylum claims. Despite the derision it attracted from metropolitan sophisticates, the plan could have worked by spreading the message that Britain was no longer a soft-touch for illegal migrants, particularly if the Tories had also been willing to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights which, from its original conception in the aftermath of the Second World War as an instrument against genuine political oppression, has been transformed into a charter for criminals, protecting rapists, drug dealers, terrorists and even murderers from deportation.