Keir Starmer promises to end ‘talk tough, do nothing’ approach to Channel crossings

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Labour will divert millions of pounds earmarked for Rwanda deportation flights to set up a new body to tackle criminal smuggling gangs, Sir Keir Starmer will announce today. In a keynote speech laying out the party’s plans to end the Conservatives’ “talk tough, do nothing” approach to Channel crossings, the Labour leader will promise new powers to clamp down on smugglers and hundreds of specialist investigators. If you don’t think that’s what the gangs are telling the people they exploit – you don’t know them.” Among the measures set to be proposed by Sir Keir are new border control stop and searches, building on powers created in 2000 by the Terrorism Act, along with new financial investigation powers and search and seizure warrants targeting organised immigration crime. “Instead of wasting time on legislation that bans the right to asylum and dehumanises people who simply need safety, there must be a fair, efficient and humane asylum system.” And Refugee Action chief executive Tom Naor Hilton said: “Whoever makes up the next government, they must end this hostile environment and build a refugee protection system that respects people’s right to claim asylum, creates safe routes to reach the UK, and tackles the racism that lies at the heart of immigration policy.” Home secretary James Cleverly said: "Rather than starting the flights and stopping the boats, Sir Keir Starmer's big new idea is an amnesty for all illegal immigrants, scrapping our Rwanda plan even if it's working.