Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has come under fire for putting a "positive spin" on small boat crossings after claiming numbers have been "significantly lower" than in previous years.
One of Keir Starmer's key pledges was to "smash the criminal gangs" and crack down on the dangerous crossings made by migrants after scrapping the previous Government's Rwanda scheme.
Speaking ahead of a summit with the Prime Minister and law enforcement officials on the small boats issue, Cooper told broadcasters: "We have this dangerous situation. The criminal gangs are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.
“In the first half of the year, the number of crossings that we inherited from the previous government were at a record high for spring crossings.
The Labour Party came into power on July 5, 2024
PA
“The numbers for July and August have been lower than in previous years, but we have also seen lives being lost and we still see these criminal gangs operating along the north French coast.
“Those gangs should not be able to get away with it and that’s why we are determined to go after them.”
Hitting out at the Home Secretary, Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migrationwatch UK argued that the Labour Government have not done or said anything to deter the amount of boats crossing in their short stint in power.
Mehmet said: “This is putting a positive spin on a lamentable situation. Nothing Yvette Cooper and Sir Keir Starmer have done or said so far has had any impact on the flow of small boats.
"The threat to smash the gangs simply encourages them to stuff the flimsy vessels. Thousands more will come and, sadly, many more will die trying to get here.”
At least 12 migrants died attempting to cross the English Channel on Tuesday
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At least 12 migrants died off the northern French coast on Tuesday trying to cross the English Channel in the deadliest small boat crossing disaster so far this year.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the people were believed to have been from Eritrea, and most of the victims were women.
Prior to Tuesday's incident, there have been at least 19 deaths in 2024 including nine since the start of July, according to the French coastguard.
In 2023, 12 migrants are thought to have died attempting the crossing or were recorded as missing.
When asked where asylum seekers would be housed now the Government has abandoned plans to use RAF Scampton as accommodation Cooper said: “We have seen this really shameful increase in the asylum backlog under the Conservatives that we inherited.
“We also saw much lower returns, way lower returns, than under the last Labour government.
“So, the action that we have immediately taken is to significantly increase the number of returns since the general election and we are also working now to close the backlog so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels, and also, in the case of Scampton, that was incredibly costly for this single site that was also strongly opposed in the local community as well.”
