PA
Despite a recent flurry of headlines pointing to some of the largest single-day small boats crossings in the UK, there are now indications that Labour are getting to grips with the dominant immigration issue – to the point where the government has even bene praised by The Mail.
A Home Office source told the publication that one of Minister Yvette Cooper’s first acts in office was to redeploy 300 officials who had previously been working on the Rwanda scheme. They have all been shifted back to regular deportations – and it has already had an impact.
At the end of July, around 220 illegal immigrants were deported via a flight to an unnamed country. This represents the biggest mass deportation flight on record. PM Keir Starmer promised to do away with the gimmicks to get results. The green shoots are starting to show.
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The rate of small boats arriving on UK shores has dropped since election day – despite the summer conditions being largely favourable for these crossings. A third of all vessels with ‘higher occupancy rates’ intercepted since 2018 have happened within the last two months.
The source also noted that Labour have prioritised tackling the ‘Germany-France corridor’ that is being exploited by people smugglers. It is reported that this redeployment of resources and focus has yielded ‘some success already’, making life harder for the profiteering gangs.
However, small boats continue to arrive on the South Coast, and it’s understood that Labour won’t be trumpeting their early ‘victories’ while these crossings continue at a high volume. Starmer is reportedly keen on avoiding the same traps that snared Rishi Sunak.
The Rwanda scheme was a costly nightmare, and one that drained hundreds of millions of pounds from the Home Office. The scores of immigration staff moved off the Rwanda project are now focusing their attention on practical and traditional means of border law enforcement.
