Starmer vows to treat people smugglers like 'terrorists' and scrap Rwanda deal
Keir Starmer says people smugglers should be treated like terrorists - as he vowed to divert cash from the "unworkable" Rwanda scheme to stopping small boat crossings.
The Labour leader is meeting police and prosecutors at Europol - the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation - this morning, where he will outline plans to tackle the asylum shambles. He told Good Morning Britain: "It's pretty clear that the boats that are currently being used are being manufactured for this vile trade are transported across several countries... we need an agreement to smash that."
And he continued: "Rather than having gimmicks from the Government we need to smash this and stop the boats getting in the water in the first place." Mr Starmer, former director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service, said it was "farcical" that tens of thousands of asylum seekers are being lodged in hotels for up to four years while their applications are decided.
Today he says he wants to deepen ties with European law enforcers to target people smugglers. A new cross-border cell in the National Crime Agency will be paid for by scrapping the deal with Rwanda, which has so far seen the UK hand over £140million to the African nation.
Labour also intends to send elite officers to work with European officials to stop the supply chain which is leading to dangerous Channel crossings, and fund more caseworkers to speed up asylum decisions. It is currently estimated taxpayers are paying £6million a day, with 175,000 people living in limbo at the end of June.
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Mr Starmer said: "The first job of any government is national security - protecting the British people from threats that come from here and overseas. The Government's failure to tackle the criminal smuggling gangs orchestrating boat crossings is now so profound that I believe it needs to be considered on a par with the other three big security threats we face: climate change, hostile foreign powers and terrorism."
Labour also wants to seek a returns agreement with Europe, similar to the legal deal in place before Brexit. So far Rishi Sunak has failed to secure such an agreement, meaning failed asylum seekers cannot be sent back to countries they passed through.
But it is likely that in order to secure such a deal, a Labour Government would have to agree a quota of people it will accept in order to share the burden of the migration crisis.
Mr Starmer wants the UK to be able to share real-time intelligence with the EU similar to the Schengen Information System II - a database of terror suspects and immigration offenders which the UK had automatic access to before Brexit.
He said he would not sanction a return to freedom of movement, telling GMB: "There is no return to freedom of movement. We have left the EU. There's no case for going back to the EU, no case for going into the single market or customs union and no freedom of movement. I've been really clear that that's the parameter. I do not accept that that prevents us working with other police units here, with prosecutors here, to smash the gangs in this vile trade."
Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said Labour would make "significant" changes to stop small boat crossings. He told BBC Radio 4: "Firstly, we would be looking at far better, real-time information sharing to help track down these criminal gangs.
"Secondly, Labour would create a cross-border policing unit funded by not continuing to waste money on the unworkable Rwanda scheme, so we can actually put more officer working at Europol and indeed leading on investigations across the continent which is so, so important. What we would also then be doing here at home is having a new serious and organised crime strategy."
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