The government will pour an extra £100m into efforts to tackle migration as pressure piles on ministers to crack down on small boat crossings.
The money will support the pilot of the new “one in, one out” returns agreement between the UK and France, paying for up to 300 more National Crime Agency (NCA) officers and new technology and equipment to step up intelligence-gathering on smuggling gangs.
There will be more overtime for immigration compliance and enforcement teams as well as funding for interventions in transit countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, the government said.
Labour has put a pledge to crack down on the number of people coming to the UK on small boats at the centre of its plan for government.
But with boat crossings at a record high, and the asylum backlog still above 75,000, there is mounting pressure on ministers to take more drastic action – pressure which is exacerbated by the success of Reform UK in the polls.
It comes as tensions over asylum hotels continue to flare up, with a protest and counter-protests taking place on Saturday outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in north London, and also in Newcastle and Manchester.
Last week figures showed that the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel topped 25,000 in record time, piling pressure on the government to take further action.
It is the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 25,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.
The government has announced a number of measures to deter migrants from coming to the UK, with the “one in, one out” deal agreed last month meaning the UK will for the first time be able to send migrants back to France in exchange for asylum seekers with links to Britain.
Meanwhile, anyone who advertises small boat crossings or fake passports on social media could be face up to five years in prison under a new offence to be introduced under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
The home secretary, who said Labour had set the foundations for a “new and much stronger law enforcement approach” over the last year, is also planning a major overhaul of the asylum system to speed up the processing of claims and make a dent in the backlog.
“Now this additional funding will strengthen every aspect of our plan and will turbo-charge the ability of our law enforcement agencies to track the gangs and bring them down, working with our partners overseas, and using state-of-the-art technology and equipment”, Yvette Cooper said.
“Alongside our new agreements with France, this will help us drive forward our plan for change commitments to protect the UK’s border security and restore order to our immigration system.”
The NCA has 91 ongoing investigations into people-smuggling networks affecting the UK, the agency’s director general of operations Rob Jones said.
But the Conservatives dismissed the funding announcement as a “desperate grab for headlines which will make no real difference”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour has failed and their laughable claim to smash the gangs lies in tatters. They have no serious plan, just excuses, while ruthless criminal gangs flood our borders with illegal immigrants.
“The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges. The Conservative Deportation Bill is the only real solution. Immediate detention, rapid removal and shutting down these illegal networks for good.”
