‘There’s no good or easy way to do this’: Labour’s small boats dilemma

“There’s no easy or good way to do this.”

This is a candid reality check from a former Home Office minister describing one of the government’s most pressing dilemmas – how to crack down on the illegal trade of people smuggling in the UK.

The Prime Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and almost all his political rivals agree that this trade must end. People from all over the world risk their lives to try to get here – and hundreds of communities are affected when those who do are sent to live in hotels or other accommodation while their cases are dealt with. .

But there is strong disagreement over what should be done.

Labor replaced Rishi Sunak’s “stop the boats” slogan with its own three-word mantra: “break up the gangs”. One of Sir Keir Starmer’s first acts was to scrap Conservative plans to deport people coming to Britain without permission directly to Rwanda.

Conservatives are angry that Labor got rid of something that could theoretically stop smugglers and migrants in their tracks. Frankly, we don’t even know whether the first plane would have left the tarmac, and the Conservatives can’t be sure it will work as a deterrent – ​​but the government can’t be sure it won’t. .

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who will join me in the studio on Sunday morning, has instead focused on trying to make deals with other countries to stop criminals taking advantage of the distress and ambition of people desperate to come to Britain. Are. We join her in Italy this weekend as she advocates for greater cooperation with other governments.

The jargon means “interrupting at the source”, disrupting gangs, and cutting down on the number of people who board flimsy rubber boats in the cold sea in the hope of getting to the UK.

There is no lack of activity. Measures agreed so far include Britain paying to help train border forces in Iraq A new criminal offense is being created to prosecute people smugglers in germanyCash deals have also been struck for Slovakia, Slovenia and Kurdistan, as well as Sudan, Chad, Vietnam and Egypt.

She is also focused on speeding up the system that decides what happens to people who come here and are living in terrible limbo, and returning more people home. Is. The number of cases pending over the years has reached thousands – a sad status quo.

So the overall vision is quite clear: make it harder for people to come here without permission, and decide what happens to people who come here too fast.

But obviously not that effective.

since labor The number of people who crossed remained in power Have gone up in small boats. More than 20,000 people have arrived since July, up from 17,000 in the same period last year. And the government has acknowledged that the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers has also increased since the election, to more than 35,000 people by September.

One insider says the government is well aware that this upsets some people, as migrants are “walking down the coast like they’re getting to the ferry”. And there is acknowledgment that this hotel accommodation causes “a major problem with social cohesion”, says the same source.

It is not unheard of for Labor MPs and even some ministers now to publicly object to groups of newly arrived people not being allowed to work, being forced into communities without the right support or infrastructure and without full explanation. Being maintained at taxpayers’ expense. Or support for the local people.

But ending the use of these hotels has become one of Labor’s election promises which is proving to be more difficult to keep than they suggested.

However, Cooper’s team points to the increasing number of unsuccessful asylum seekers returned to their countries and progress made in reducing the backlog of cases stuck in the system.

Neither hotels were closed, nor were migration numbers specifically cut or boats stopped. Public list of Sir Keir’s “milestones”Sources close to his operation say never to fear – this is not a milestone but a “foundation”. What on earth does that mean? In short, the government is well aware of how important it is that it clamps down on illegal immigration and sources suggest that the Prime Minister himself is spending a lot of time focusing on it, and it is on the agenda of every world leader. Is in whom he sees.

But Number 10 will not repeat the practice of previous administrations, creating specific targets or setting lofty targets on immigration. Perhaps this is a trap they will not set for themselves.

However, the lack of clear measurements of success leads to accusations of the government not taking public concerns seriously. If there are goals for health, why not for immigration? If numbers are there for children’s education, why not boats?

With Nigel Farage’s Reform Party leading in some polls, Labour’s opponents are seeking to find a lack of commitment to making immigration a top concern. Conservatives are angry that Labor missed the opportunity of a deterrent that may or may not have stopped cross Channel trips from happening. They cite Australia, where boats were capsized, and Belgium, Where police have stopped boats in the water,

One Tory strategist said there had been a “lack of political will” to solve the problem. He says the economy depends on migration, so a more basic level of honesty is required about the compromises required to prepare the government machinery to cope with legal and illegal immigration.

Criticism also comes from within Labour.

“There is a fear, a lack of courage,” one party source told me – while others describe Cooper as cautious. Some argue that the only way to solve the terrible problem of vulnerable people coming to Britain haphazardly would be to do something entirely different, such as opening more safe routes for people to come to Britain or carrying out so-called humanitarian development. Visas to help people in danger flee their country (although this will not necessarily prevent others from making the journey by dangerous small boats).

Sir Keir’s leadership does not want to argue that it should be easy for people from extremely poor countries to move to Britain. Yet there are some labor voices that say a more adult and honest conversation is needed. last year, I spoke to five former home secretaries about how difficult it was to manage immigrationAnd they all felt they were hindered by the politics of the issue.

Labour, for now, does not want to choose a bolder deterrent like the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, or a more radical humanitarian approach. As is often the case, Sir Keir is choosing what seems practical – do the right things better, and hope (like hell) that with enough effort, it will work.

Critics on the right and left say it’s a mess in the middle.

As 2025 approaches, there is no doubt about the importance or political sentiment of the issue of illegal immigration. But nothing is clear about the feasibility of the government’s solutions – or the success or failure of what they are trying to do.

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