Labour Will Use MI5 to Tackle Illegal Immigrant Boat Gangs: Starmer

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer speaks during a visit to Dover, Kent, to set out his party's plans to tackle the small boats crisis on May 10, 2024. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The Labour Party will create a new multi-agency Border Security Command to tackle people smuggling gangs bringing illegal immigrants across the English Channel.

Hundreds of police officers, intelligence agents, and specialist investigators from agencies including MI5, the National Crime Agency, and Border Force will support the proposed Border Security Command, according to a statement published on Labour’s website on Friday.

The command will use “counter-terror style tactics” and liaise with European partners, the party said, to break the people smuggling business model. The plans include new border control stop and search procedures built on powers created by the Terrorism Act 2000, along with new financial investigation powers and search and seizure warrants.

Writing for The Sun ahead of formally announcing the measures, Sir Keir said that people smugglers “are no better than terrorists, and we should treat them as such.”

“They are a threat to the nation’s security and a threat to life, so we need to use counter terrorist powers to go after them - that means stop and search powers at the border including personal searches and the seizure of mobile phones for anyone crossing the border suspected of people smuggling,” he wrote.

Sir Keir detailed the plans, along with Labour’s wider strategy for dealing with immigration and asylum, during a speech in the port city of Dover in Kent, a hot-spot for illegal immigrant landings by small boat.

Labour Will End Rwanda Plan

Sir Keir announced that as part of the Labour Party’s plans to tackle illegal immigration, it would “replace the Rwanda policy permanently” and said the UK’s asylum system “must be rebuilt” and borders “must be secured.”

“Our rules-based system should align with global rules that protect individual human rights,” the Labour leader said, after the party had indicated that some 52,000 people earmarked under the Conservative government’s removal plans could be allowed to submit asylum claims.

Under the government’s Rwanda scheme, immigrants who enter the UK illegally—where currently the largest route for arrivals is via the English Channel—would have their asylum claims automatically deemed inadmissible and would result in them either being returned to their home country or sent to Rwanda.

The Refugee Council said that some 115,000 asylum seekers would be left “stranded” in the UK by the end of this year under the Rwanda plan because of the logistical issues of removing that volume of people to the east African country.

Sir Keir criticised the Rwanda policy for not being a deterrent to illegal immigration, with more than 2,000 illegal immigrants having arrived by boat since the Rwanda Act became law.

“Stopping the gangs getting people in boats is the most effective deterrent because you can’t actually make the crossing to get here,” the Labour leader said.

“Turning a blind eye to this business, not understanding how important a rules-based asylum system is for tackling that exploitation … for removing the criminal business model here, that is not a progressive and compassionate position. It is the complete opposite,” he said.

Elphicke’s Defection Reflects ‘Mood of the Country’

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke, who defected from the Tories to join Labour on Wednesday, was present at the speech. Ms. Elphicke said she had crossed the floor over the government’s failure to tackle illegal immigration and the housing crisis.

Sir Keir said Ms. Elphicke’s move to Labour was “significant” and reflected the mood of the country.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer sits with new Labour MP Natalie Elphicke, during a visit to Dover, Kent, on May 10, 2024. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

The Labour leader said, “I think anyone reading the words she set out this morning would be persuaded this is a very significant thing, you’ve got a Tory party that is losing votes, losing MPs, losing councillors, losing mayors across the country.”

“It’s a Conservative Party that is on its last legs, it’s out of road, out of ideas, and that is why I genuinely think the mood of the country and Natalie has picked up on this, is for change and a general election,” he added.

Labour dominated local and mayoral elections last week, and saw Sadiq Khan win a third term as mayor of London.

The latest polling by YouGov on Westminster voting intentions has the Conservatives on 18 percent with Labour on 48 percent.

PA Media contributed to this report.