Keir Starmer has pledged to rip up the government’s Rwanda scheme and instead use the money to form a specialist force. The new unit will be given powers similar to those of the counter-terror police.
Plans to Divert Funds
The Labour party wants to use £75m of the government’s allocation to the Rwanda scheme to fund the new plan instead. This money will cover the creation and running of the new unit.
Labour Pledges Cooperative Working
The new unit will expand to working with Europe across several agencies. The UK is expected to share ideas and information on enforcement and intelligence.
Expansion of Staffing Numbers
Part of the plan involves Labour hiring hundreds of new officers to deal with people smugglers. The new posts will consist of special investigators, intelligence agents, and cross-border police officers.
Unit Given Additional Powers
The unit will be able to use Serious Crime Prevention Orders to shut off suspected smugglers’ bank accounts and internet access. These powers can be used before a conviction is in place.
Immigration Numbers Higher Than Ever
Current measures against immigration simply aren’t working. Records show that last week, nearly 1,500 people arrived in the UK via small boats, a 35% increase compared to the previous year.
Former Immigration Watchdog in Favour of Plans
Former Immigration Watchdog David Neal said: “My reports frequently identified poor leadership, lack of grip and a failure to align responsibility, accountability and authority. Direct reporting to the home secretary makes absolute sense to give a clear independent voice into the heart of government.”
Labour Claim Their Plans Are More Comprehensive Than Government’s
The Tories have said Labour’s plans are a re-branded version of their own. Still, Labour says their plans are more comprehensive, better resourced and allow for cross-border working.
Rwanda Plan All Bluff and Bluster
The Rwanda plan hasn’t worked from the start. It is legally questionable, expensive, time-consuming, and frankly, wasteful. It has bounced between the houses, will cost a fortune, and hasn’t deported a single immigrant yet.
PR Disaster From the Start
It has achieved a PR black eye for the government so far. It was ill-thought-through and has not worked in any fashion. It has made the government’s attempt to deal with immigration look shambolic.
Starmer on the Attack
He says, “It’s not hard to see why the prime minister might want a path to deterrence without the hard graft, the boring graft maybe, of fixing the wider system.”
Says Plan Will Never Be Effective
He continued, “Let me spell it out again – a scheme that will only remove 1% of small boat crossings a year can not, and never will be, an effective deterrent.”
Calls the Rwanda Plan a “Travelodge Amnesty”
Starmer claims, “The government has achieved the complete opposite of what they claim – a Travelodge amnesty, handed out by the Tory party that, if nothing else, is warmer and safer than spending winter under canvas near a beach in northern France.”
Asylum Seeker Backlog Getting Bigger
The Tories say they want to move the 90,000 people stuck in asylum limbo to Rwanda. So far nothing is currently happening with them. The system is jammed, and the numbers are getting larger every day. Not a single flight has taken off yet.
Labour Plans to Deal with Backlog
Labour says it will “get a grip on the asylum process, to clear the backlog with a fast track for safe countries and remove those with no right to be here”.
Administrative Staff Numbers Need Boosting
One issue with the immigration system is the lack of administrative staff to process the sheer number of asylum seekers. Labour has pledged to hire hundreds of new caseworkers to handle the backlogs.
Starmer Is Keen to Remind Critics That It’s a Tough Scheme
To prevent anyone from thinking the scheme is too soft, he said, “We should turn over every stone and use every reasonable power – that is my message to the smugglers: these shores will become hostile territory for you.”
Tories Criticise Labour Plans
James Cleverly, the home secretary, said Labour’s new plan was “an amnesty for all illegal immigrants, scrapping our Rwanda plan even if it’s working”.
Public No Faith in Rwanda Plan
Despite Cleverly claiming that the Rwanda plan is working, according to a YouGov survey, only 3% of surveyed adults think it’s ‘very likely’ anyone will be deported under the plan.
The Issue Needs to Be Addressed Somehow.
We’re at a point where the numbers are increasing, but the plans to fight it are going nowhere. The Tories have tried, but so far, their plan has failed at every turn. Maybe Labour will get it right. Let’s wait and see.
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Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Dominic Dudley.