Yvette Cooper tonight dodged on when the number of Channel migrant crossings will fall under Labour’s plan to tackle the small boats crisis.
The Home Secretary has unveiled proposed new laws to crack down on people smuggling gangs, as part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
This includes migrants who prevent rescues in the Channel taking place until they reach UK waters facing up to five years in jail.
And those selling and handling boat parts suspected of being used in migrant crossings face up to 14 years in prison under the legislation.
But, in an interview with Sky News, Ms Cooper refused to say when Labour’s adoption of counter-terror style powers would have an impact on the rate of crossings.
‘We’re bringing these new powers in in the course of this year because we said in our manifesto we would bring in new counter-terror style powers to go after the criminal gangs,’ she said.
‘They have been getting away with it for far too long. They had six years of just being able to take hold, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.
‘So that’s why we’re bringing these in as a first major piece of legislation to do that, because, frankly, we have to tackle these dangerous boat crossings and the criminal gangs that are profiting from them.’
Pressed twice more for a timescale on when migrant numbers would begin to come down, Ms Cooper would only say she wanted ‘all of the action to have an impact as fast as possible’.
Yvette Cooper tonight dodged on when the number of Channel migrant crossings will fall under Labour’s plan to tackle the small boats crisis
Under Labour’s plan, 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 Bill, published by the Home Office, will also reverse many of the Tories’ previous attempts to stop the boats including formally repealing the Rwanda deportation scheme.
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.
Migrants in an overcrowded dinghy off the coast of Gravelines in France on January 17
Migrants are bought ashore from dinghies in the Channel last month
Ms 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.’
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 Tory MP Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, 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.’
