Labour’s asylum plans are an admission of failure
I want the Labour Government to succeed in breaking the smuggling gangs. But I have little confidence that they will.
Ahead of the general election Labour in general, and Starmer in particular, give no indication that they cared about border control. Yvette Cooper famously sought social media clout by holding up a “#refugeeswelcome” sign, Starmer said that “a racist undercurrent permeates all immigration law”, and he whipped Labour MPs to vote against tougher border measures over 139 times.
Starmer in Opposition clearly saw immigration as nothing more than a convenient political tool to attack the Conservatives.
But Starmer and Cooper aren’t in Opposition any more. Those daily small boat arrival figures are now their responsibility, as are the increasing number of lives lost in the Channel, the pressure on asylum accommodation, and the impact on social cohesion. These are serious issues and they demand the Government takes them seriously.
But Starmer and Cooper aren’t. We can see this by their lacklustre response.
They clearly thought that this would be easy, that all it would take was for them not to be “The Tories”, that once the grown-ups were in charge all the problems would go away. The arrogance was breathtaking, the complacency palpable.
Their first act in Government was to shout to the world that they were going to do less. Scrapping the UK’s partnership with Rwanda, and doing so in such a performative way, was a huge insult to a fellow member of the Commonwealth and a huge signal to the people smugglers.
Whatever Labour meant to signal was lost, what they actually signalled was toxic. It was an invitation to the people smugglers rather than a deterrent.
It was clearly driven by a desire to placate the Left and those who think that the UK shouldn’t limit who comes to this country. A sop to those who think that everyone who claims to be a refugee is entitled to stay in the UK, irrespective of the validity of their claim. In fact it was targeted at the views that both Starmer and Cooper paraded prior to becoming ministers.
Maintaining the habits of Opposition, Starmer and Cooper obviously still think that their job is to say things rather than do things. Rebranding existing Home Office functions is their displacement activity of choice.
We already had a Small Boats Operational Command (SBOC), commanded by a former British Army General, tasked with liaising with the French authorities to stop the smugglers on the other side of the Channel. And what was Labour’s big announcement? A Border Security Command, commanded by a former senior police officer, tasked with liaising with the French authorities to stop the smugglers on the other side of the Channel.
We already have specialists in the National Crime Agency working on Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) and as Home Secretary, I had decided to give them extra money and people. But I knew that money and people were not enough, particularly at the scale that Labour are talking about.
The Home Office budget was over £20 billion last year and it has around 50,000 civil servants. Starmer has announced an extra £200 million and 100 people. It would be funny if it weren’t such a serious matter.
During the election I asked over and over again what Labour’s plan was. All I got back in return was the meaningless phrases “smash the gangs” and “no more gimmicks”. What we saw was a Summer of inaction from Labour and smugglers having a field day.
This week we see Starmer address Interpol at his most pious and inept, speaking slowly but saying nothing, giving generalities but no specifics.
This is one of the most challenging issues our country faces, I hope that the Government finally starts to take this as seriously as it should.