Sir Keir Starmer is expected to promise to make Kent’s shores “hostile territory for people-smuggling gangs" in a speech at Dover this morning.
The Labour party leader is expected to announce plans to crackdown on small boat crossings by rolling out a new Border Security Command unit.
He will say the specialist division will be paid for with cash earmarked for the current government’s £75 million Rwanda scheme if his party wins power.
Starmer is expected to say a Labour government will turn the page on the Tories’ “talk tough, do nothing culture” which, he will claim, has led to record numbers - over 8,500 crossings already this year.
Sir Keir will also highlight more than 52,000 people are now stuck in the Tory asylum backlog, living in taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation and hotels, with no realistic prospect of removal, at a cost of billions each year.
The new command will work with international agencies cross-border, the party says, to “smash” the gangs sending people to the UK.
It will build on the party’s existing commitment to work closely with Europol and others to put Britain’s police at the heart of pan-European efforts to counter people smuggling, the party says.
The announcement comes after a series of damning reports from former Army officer and independent chief inspector of borders, David Neal.
He recently identified serious issues at Britain’s borders, including a lack of basic equipment, border posts left unmanned, and insufficient staff numbers.
The speech comes after Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover, crossed the floor of the House of Commons to join the Labour on Wednesday.
Speaking from the constituency of his newest MP, Starmer will set out details of his party’s plans to create a new border security command.
Labour says it would consist of an elite body reporting to the home secretary which will bring together all the key agencies – the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement, CPS, MI5.
Starmer will outline plans to hire hundreds of additional specialist investigators, intelligence agents and cross-border police officers.
Under the party’s plans, they would support the new border security command unit and work across the UK and Europe, split across multiple agencies; National Crime Agency, MI5, Border Force, CPS International and Immigration Enforcement.
He is also expected to reveal his border security command will be bolstered by the use of new counter-terrorist powers to tackle the small boats problem and protect Britain’s borders.
Announcing his new proposals, Sir Keir is expected to say the Tory party has shown their “rank incompetence” on small boats, and that Labour’s policy will “replace gimmicks with graft”.
He is expected to say: “Rebuilding our asylum system has become a test of political strength, a trial of leadership to resist the voices who fundamentally do not want to rebuild a functioning asylum system.
“It's become a question of whether you can prioritize, at all times, the politics of practical solutions, and reject the politics of performative symbols - the gimmicks and gestures.
“This is the story of what has happened to the Government, which finds itself with a record of failure as total and stark as this. It isn’t just rank incompetence, it’s about who the Tories are and the culture in Westminster that rewards the grand gesture and the big talk, while disregarding the small deed and detailed practical action that over time, over the course of a government, can move a nation forward, step by step.
“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. But I’m afraid, like so much of what he says these days, it’s sticking plasters. Gimmicks, not serious government.
“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. If you don’t think that’s what the gangs are telling the people they exploit – you don’t know them.
“We have to restore integrity and rules to our asylum system. We have to clear the backlog. That is the path – the only path - to real deterrence.
“So we will hire hundreds of new caseworkers for the Home Office – and we’ll do it immediately - we will create a new fast-track Returns and Enforcement Unit. We will ensure our courts can process claims quickly, and we will save the taxpayer billions.
“Labour will stop the chaos. Labour will bust the backlogs. Labour will rebuild our broken asylum system.”
