‘Great news for immigrants!’ MPs slam Starmer as Labour’s immigration plan leaves Channel bracing for ‘busy summer’

The Border Security Command, unveiled by Labour ahead of the 2024 General Election, will cost £75million of funds diverted from the Rwanda scheme.

Despite putting forward a fresh plan, more than 1,000 Channel crossing migrants have made the 21-mile journey since Starmer became Prime Minister.

Speaking during his second King’s Speech, Charles said: “My Government will seek to strengthen the border and make streets safer.

“A Bill will be introduced to modernise the asylum and immigration system, establishing a new Border Security Command and delivering enhanced counter terror powers to tackle organised immigration crime.”

Labour also claimed the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which will apply across the entirety of the UK, will give Border Security Command the “tools and powers” to crackdown on criminal gangs, provide a strong deterrent and fix the broke asylum system.

Critics of the Labour Government were quick to slam Starmer over his plan.

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, who defected to the populist party after losing the Conservative whip over comments made about London Mayor Sadiq Khan, told GB News: “It's great news for immigrants.”

A Tory source added: “Starmer likes to talk a big game on immigration and smashing smuggling gangs, the King's Speech was unsurprisingly light on details

“Where were the radical solutions there or any deterrents? Time will surely tell and I’m sure the British public won’t be too forgiving if it doesn’t step up to the plate.”

Migration Watch's Alp Mehmet also said: “These proposals will do little to stop illegal immigration or address the problem of out of control legal migration. The scale of net migration will continue unabated.”

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However, former Immigration Ministers have been left split on Labour’s proposal.

Ex-Great Yarmouth MP Sir Brandon Lewis, who stood down ahead of the election, told GB News: “I actually think this is a sensible idea.

“If Labour can properly bring the agencies together it could have a very positive impact on the criminal gangs.

“This is something that Rishi originally said he wanted to do as part of his five point plan, in effect.”

Disagreeing with his former colleague, Kevin Foster warned Channel crossings could skyrocket this summer.

The 45-year-old, who lost his Torbay seat to the Liberal Democrats with a swing of 23 per cent, added: “Just rebranding a command which already exists will do nothing to stop small boat crossings.

“By scrapping Rwanda, Keir Starmer has reinforced, not broken the people smugglers business model. It's sadly going to be a very busy summer in The Channel.”

Almost 15,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far in 2024.

The number peaked in 2022 when 45,774 settled on British shores, with the total in 2023 standing at 29,437.

The Tories were accused by both Labour and Reform UK of failing to deal with the crisis.

Sunak staked his Rwanda plan on Britons going to the polls on July 4 following a series of legal and parliamentary battles over the controversial move.

While Reform elected four MPs and received more than four million votes, Labour was forced to voice its concern about another number of migrant deaths.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the deaths of four migrants in the Channel was “truly awful”.

The Home Office added: “Everyone wants to see an end to the dangerous small boat crossings. They are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk.

“We are taking action to smash the people smuggling gangs responsible for this trade, establishing a new Border Security Command to bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas.

“Our staff continue with their dedicated mission to save lives in the Channel whilst working with our French and other international partners to ensure the criminals responsible face the full extent of the law.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage responded by putting pressure on Starmer, saying: “The new Government had better start moving fast”.

The populist party’s plan to stop the boats includes leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, ending the ability for illegal immigrants to resettle in the UK, establishing a Department of Immigration and taking Channel crossers back to France.