'Half a dozen people lost their lives off the French coast.'

MP for Ellesmere Port

MORE than 500 people crossed the Channel last Saturday and on the same day half a dozen people lost their lives off the French coast.

While the latest focus has understandably been on the outbreak of a serious Legionella disease on barges that are now housing asylum seekers off the Dorset coast, the idea that use of small boats by migrants is somehow reducing is one for the birds.

Amid yet more rhetoric from the Government vowing to “break the people smugglers’ business model and stop the boats”, it is crystal clear a different strategy is required if we are to have any chance of making our asylum system work.

There is no hiding that migration issues are not going to go away and it is fanciful to suggest otherwise. Many people who seek to travel to the United Kingdom are fleeing countries where they risk persecution and even death. Under international law they are entitled to apply for permission to contribute to life in another country.

I am pleased therefore that the official Opposition has drawn up a plan to deal with the nightmarish situation in which we find ourselves because the Government’s headline-grabbing gimmick approach to dealing with the influx of asylum seekers who risk their lives in small boat crossings from mainland Europe is simply not working.

Labour has agreed a five-point plan to reform the asylum system which, by establishing a cross-border police unit, is fundamentally aimed at a crackdown on criminal smuggler gangs. It will involve a reform of resettlements schemes to stop people being exploited.

The focus will be to clear the Home Office backlog on asylum applications and end hotel use. There will be a new agreement with France and other European countries on returns and family reunions and there will be direct efforts to tackle humanitarian crises at source, helping refugees in their own regions.

All that money earmarked to the failed scheme to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda will be redirected to relentlessly targeting the smuggling gangs.

The new cross-border police unit will have a singular focus on cracking down on people smuggling and organised immigration crime. It will work across Europe and with police forces here in the UK to stop this dangerous and criminal activity and bring those who perpetrate it to justice.

These are among the efforts that will be required realistically if we are to have a chance of re-establishing an effective migration system. They are hard graft policies which seek to tackle the problem once and for all.

The reality is that convictions for criminal people smuggling have plummeted by a third since 2010. The Government has failed to punish and stop criminal gangs who make millions from small boat crossings. These smuggling gangs have been allowed to take hold along our border.

Under our Serious and Organised Crime strategy to replace the current outdated plan, there will be stronger roles for regional police teams with people smuggling and people trafficking at its heart.

Given Rishi Sunak has made tackling this issue one of his five main pledges, it is clear he will feel he needs to be showing greater progress in doing so than has occurred to date.