Starmer says new restrictions are vital to stop smuggling gangs

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that new curbs on smuggling networks are a “really important step” to curb illegal migration to the UK.

Speaking to the BBC, Sir Keir said that using counter-terrorism tactics such as freezing smugglers’ bank accounts would allow the UK to “break” their business model.

Below Plans announced this weekThe government will also be able to seize assets and impose travel bans on “those who help bring people into this country” illegally.

Critics have argued that the measures are too modest to prevent small boat crossings.

But Sir Keir said: “If you want to destroy a gang driven by money, follow the money.”

The new sanctions schemes are designed to disrupt the flow of funds and could be imposed on companies and individuals who assist illegal migration, including companies making materials for small boat crossings.

The proposed measures, which have yet to be finalised, would mean UK-based individuals and financial institutions would be banned from dealing with groups sanctioned by law.

The Government will bring in new legislation for the scheme, which will be drafted by government clearance experts along with law enforcement and Home Office staff.

Many smugglers operate in informal cash-based networks, making it difficult for authorities to target their assets.

But it may be easier to sanction middlemen involved in the supply chains and networks that help smugglers and transport asylum seekers across Europe to northern France.

The new plans were “similar to the powers we have used against terrorists, which allows us to seize their assets, stop them traveling and put them out of business.”

“And so this is a really important step forward,” Sir Keir said.

He described these plans as “a world first”.

The fact that people smuggling is “so lucrative”, he said, “is why we have to go for the money”.

“The people running this business are only interested in the amount of money they can make, and if you can break that model, you can reduce that organized crime.”

The new powers will work in conjunction with other policies announced by Sir Keir, including extra funding for the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the UK’s new Border Patrol Command (BSC) to make more arrests.

Sir Keir said, “The strength of sanctions is that you can do it at a much earlier stage and more quickly than arrests” – allowing law enforcement to stop criminals earlier.

Sir Keir said the new policy is based on lessons learned as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from 2008 to 2013, before entering politics.

He said: “As I learned as chief prosecutor, follow the money, break the model.”

Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: “Labour has no credibility in tackling the evil business of people smuggling.

“In Parliament he voted against tougher sentences and life sentences for smugglers, abolished the Rwandan deterrent and campaigned in favor of the rights of dangerous criminals and foreign national criminals rather than protecting the British people.

“The previous Conservative government legislated to tackle illegal migration and worked with international partners to ensure criminals face justice, disrupt their movements, and ensure arrest, prosecution and conviction.”

The Prime Minister was asked about a suggestion by Sebastian Gorka, President-elect Donald Trump’s counter-terrorism adviser, that Britain should repatriate ISIS supporters from Syrian camps, including Shamima Begum.

Sir Keir said any repatriation would be “determined on a case-by-case basis”.

But “the driving principle will be ‘What’s in our national security?’ He said.