The home secretary’s new border security law shows that the government has no real solution to stop small boat crossings. The attorney general has confirmed this too.
The only way to stop people from crossing the Channel in small boats would be if French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to let Britain send them back to France. But Macron won’t do that because it would look like he is giving in to Britain.
No other plan will work. Some tough policies might scare a few people from trying, like the plan to send migrants to Rwanda. A few people decided not to come because of that plan, and some who were already in the UK went to Ireland to avoid being sent to Rwanda.
But in reality, only a few hundred people could have been sent to Rwanda, while tens of thousands arrive each year. Most people making the journey are willing to risk drowning to reach the UK. The small chance of being sent to Rwanda would not be enough to stop them.
Smaller actions will be even less effective. For example, taking away mobile phones from new arrivals, even if it’s called a “new counterterror-style power,” won’t make any real difference.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, introduced a new border security bill today, but it’s really just a sign that the government has failed. She and Prime Minister Keir Starmer had hoped to make a deal with France to process asylum seekers there. But just like when Rishi Sunak tried before them, the deal failed because France refused to take back rejected asylum seekers.
Instead, Cooper is now presenting a weak law that sounds tough but won’t change much. She claims it will help police crack down on gangs that smuggle people into the UK.
But even if the police could stop more smugglers, it wouldn’t fix the real problem—the huge number of people desperate to reach the UK. Cooper and Starmer talk as if gangs are forcing people onto boats, but in reality, people are paying smugglers because they want to come.
Yes, the smugglers are criminals taking advantage of people, but they are not the root cause. As long as people are desperate to come, there will always be someone ready to smuggle them in. Arresting one smuggler won’t stop the next one from taking over.
The only real plan Cooper seems to have is increasing the number of people deported. The Labour government has already removed 16,000 people since she took charge, but this is still far below the 45,000 deported per year under the last Labour government. She may be hoping that passing this law makes it look like they are taking action while they work on removing more people.
This is important because, in theory, people with no legal right to stay should be removed. But she must be realistic—most small boat arrivals are still granted asylum, so deportation won’t be a big enough deterrent. The home secretary is in a tough spot, just like the Conservatives were, because there are no simple solutions. Even when the Conservatives talked about ignoring the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), they still couldn’t stop the crossings.
Maybe that’s why Attorney General Richard Hermer recently told the European Council that the UK will always follow ECHR rules. He made it clear that the government will never leave the European Convention on Human Rights or refuse to follow its decisions.
Of course, the UK should support human rights, but it should also have the power to make exceptions in extreme cases. Keir Starmer himself has called the small boat crisis a “national security” issue.
By completely ruling out any tough stance on ECHR rulings, Hermer and Cooper have basically admitted that they have no real way to stop the boats.
