The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has warned that there is a “moral imperative” to stop people-smuggling gangs from helping migrants cross the English Channel in small boats. Her comments were made ahead of a meeting with intelligence agencies, law enforcement bodies and ministers. The gathering happened only three days after twelve individuals, including six children and a pregnant woman, died while attempting to make the treacherous journey. The tragedy is the most significant loss of life in the waterway this year.
Some 21,000 people have made the crossing this year. This number is slightly higher than the same period last year but 20% lower than in 2020. The shadow home secretary for the Conservative Party, James Cleverly, said that it was not enough to merely speak about “smashing the gangs” when the actual effects are so serious. The current government has promised to focus on stopping smuggling gangs, while the opposition will be under pressure to prove that its approach is successful.
Friday’s meeting focussed on small-boat crossings and was attended by representatives from various government departments including the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, Border Forces, Crown Prosecution Service, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Attorney General Lord Hermer. Head of the National Crime Agency (NCA), Graeme Biggar, provided attendees with details of over 70 ongoing investigations, including raids of warehouses in Libya where migrants were held. He explained that co-operation with Bulgaria in recent weeks had resulted in the seizure of over 40 small boats and engines that could have transported 2,400 people across the Channel. The NCA said it had seized more than 410 small boats and engines since last spring.
The summit assessed the operational capabilities of gangs that smuggle people, and the Home Office has pledged to hire a border security command chief to target them. Yvette Cooper said that the last two months had seen “encouraging progress, with significant seizures of boats and equipment in Europe.” She added that swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK would ensure “we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced.” The Home Office claims that a “reset in the relationship with Europe” has led to a 50% increase in the number of NCA officers based with Europol and that officers are being dispatched to Romania and South East Asian countries where gangs advertise Channel crossings. The ministry says that the recent fatalities demonstrate that smugglers are prepared to consider increasingly extreme measures as more individuals are crammed into lower-quality vessels
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