Starmer will not ‘stop the boats’ but pledges to reduce crossings

SIR Keir Starmer declined to commit to “stopping the boats” as he set out his party’s plans to tackle cross-Channel migration.

The Labour leader said crossings needed to be reduced “materially” and he would “like it to come down completely”, but added he would not put a “false number” on his plans.

Speaking in Deal, Kent, yesterday, Sir Keir said a Labour government would expand counter-terror powers to cover people-smuggling gangs and create a new Border Security Command to co-ordinate efforts to halt the crossings.

His comments came as figures showed more than 9,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year.

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.”

He also reiterated his commitment to scrap the Government’s Rwanda policy “straight away”, saying it was a “gimmick” he had no interest in pursuing.

But asked what would happen to any people deported to Rwanda in the coming months, he said Labour was “not interested in repatriating people”.

Sir Keir’s speech followed the defection of Dover MP Natalie Elphicke, who told the audience of party supporters in Deal on Friday that Rishi Sunak had “failed to keep our borders secure”.

Under the plans outlined yesterday, Labour would establish a new border security command led by a former police, military or intelligence chief and modelled on an approach to counter-terrorism operations that Sir Keir said had already proven successful.

The new command would bring together officers from agencies including MI5, Immigration Enforcement and the National Crime Agency, focused on stopping people smugglers and “freed from the cloying bureaucracy that so often prevents collaboration between different institutions”.

The unit would also benefit from new powers, expanding on those already used to combat terrorists, including enhanced stop-andsearch powers.