In a statement to parliament as MPs return to Westminster on Monday after the summer recess, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will unveil more details of changes to refugee family reunion, first set out in the Immigration White Paper earlier this year, to bring “greater fairness and balance” into the system.
In an attempt to counteract Reform’s narrative that Labour has lost control of the small boats issue, Cooper will publish new figures showing how the government has tackled people smugglers over the past year.
The Home Office said that the National Crime Agency, working with the new Border Security Command, led 347 disruptions of immigration crime networks – its highest level on record and a 40 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
Organised crime disrupted
While NCA-backed efforts in Europe have squeezed the supply of boats and engines destined for the French coast, with 45 dinghies seized in operations at the Bulgarian border in July and August.
Officials believe that this contributed to the lowest number of boats crossing the Channel in the month of August since 2019, with 55 making the crossing, according to the latest figures.
Labour is under increasing pressure over the small boats issue, including from its own MPs. In July, the number of migrants to have crossed the Channel since the party took power in July 2024 reached 50,000.
This has helped boost Reform to a 15 point lead over Labour in a BMG poll for The i Paper published on Friday.
Nigel Farage poses in front of a mock departures board during one of his weekly press conferences which have seen him dominate the summer agenda (AP Photo/Joanna Chan)
Cooper, who is herself under pressure over the issue, will say the UK has a “proud record of giving sanctuary to those fleeing persecution” but the system “needs to be properly controlled and managed, so the rules are respected and enforced, and so governments, not criminal gangs, decide who comes to the UK”.
He added: “The simple fact is this year so far has been the worst in history with 28,000 illegal immigrants crossing the channel – 47 per cent up year on year.
“Labour is boasting about NCA disruptions – but the NCA’s own data shows a 16 per cent fall in the year to April compared with the last year under the Conservatives. Labour’s claim to have smashed the gangs is completely discredited. The truth is that Labour has lost control of our borders, and is engulfed in a fully-fledged borders crisis.”
Leaving ECHR ‘won’t risk Northern Ireland peace’
The paper from Policy Exchange stated that public debate about human rights law reform has been “distorted” by the repeated assertion that withdrawal from the ECHR would breach the historic peace agreement.
Policy Exchange said “nothing in the UK’s commitments to the peace process in Northern Ireland requires it to remain a part of the ECHR”.
People protest near The Bell Hotel in Epping after the Court of Appeal overturned an order to empty it of asylum seekers. Image: Reuters/Jack Taylor square POLITICS Big Read'Whatever the barriers are, remove them' - Labour MPs urge action on small boats
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The document received the endorsement of former Labour home secretary and foreign secretary Jack Straw, who said: “I am not persuaded that the UK needs to withdraw from the ECHR, the better to deal with the unacceptable number of unlawful and unfounded asylum seekers.
Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, a campaign group which lobbies for closer ties with the EU, rejected the think tank’s findings.
She said: “In 30 pages, the Good Friday Agreement cites the ECHR seven times as an essential safeguard.”
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