Labour detention plan not likely to stop small boats, says former head of Border Force

Labour’s plan to increase detention capacity is unlikely to stop small boat crossings and the “only real solution” is a deal with the EU, the former head of the UK’s Border Force has said.

Tony Smith told Sky News while the new government’s announcements – including reopening removal centres and staffing up the National Crime Agency (NCA) – showed it was “serious about immigration enforcement”, the challenge is vast.

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The scepticism comes as a local MP in the area where one of the detention facilities is located vowed to fight the plan, saying the site has a “dark history” and accusing Labour of dodging scrutiny.

Mr Smith said that while the now-scrapped Rwanda scheme would have targeted people from high-intake countries – essentially those who would qualify for asylum – the focus now is on a smaller cohort of people who have no right to remain.

That will likely only lead to a “fairly modest” increase in removals, he said.

He added: “There are steps under way in the Home Office to try to raise the removals rate which are all good things.

“But it’s going to be a big ask to see what kind of a dent this makes on small boat and irregular migration intake going forward.”

‘Only so much government can do’

The Tories’ flagship Rwanda scheme intended to send people who arrived in the UK by small boat to Kigali to have their asylum claims processed there. If they were successful, they would have been granted refugee status to stay in the East African nation, not the UK.

The controversial plan failed to get off the ground after years of legal challenges, with Sir Keir Starmer declaring it “dead and buried” within days of taking office.

Labour’s returns plan is different in that it will target people who are here illegally – for example, if their asylum claims are rejected because their home country is deemed safe.

However, Mr Smith said it is not always easy to remove failed asylum seekers, while lots of people who arrive by small boat will likely qualify for protection if they are coming from places like Iraq and Syria.

The prime minister’s commitment to instead “smash the gangs” who smuggle people into the UK is “the right thing” he said, but “there’s only so much the government can do”.

“This is international organised crime. It requires an international approach,” Mr Smith said.

In his view, the “only real solution” is a third-country agreement with the EU, such as sending migrants who cross the Channel back to France.

However, while “that is possible in international law”, it would be “politically difficult” as the bloc would want something in return.

Returns down 40%

Labour campaigned on a manifesto to scrap the Rwanda scheme, calling it an unworkable “gimmick” that had already cost £700m without anyone having been sent there.

It vowed to divert the money into a “Border Security Command” to tackle people-smuggling gangs bringing migrants across the Channel, as well as clearing the asylum backlog to save money on hotels and removing people with no right to be here.

According to the Home Office, the removal of failed asylum seekers had dropped 40% since 2010, the start of the Conservatives’ 14-year period in government before they were ousted in July.

Plans announced this week include bolstering the National Crime Agency (NCA) with up to 100 new specialist intelligence officers to disrupt immigration gangs and targeting businesses which employ illegal immigrants.

Labour also said they would increase detention capacity by re-opening two Immigration Removal Centres (IRC) – Campsfield House in Oxfordshire and Haslar in Hampshire – initially with 290 beds.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the beefed-up NCA will work with Europol to help “smash criminal smuggling gangs”, while increasing returns will “establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long”.

Labour ‘dodging scrutiny’

But Ms Cooper’s opposite number, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, said it was a “pathetic response to a really challenging situation”.

And Lib Dem MP Calum Miller said repairing the immigration system “should be done thoughtfully, not through a mid-summer press release when there can be no parliamentary scrutiny”, as he warned he would fight the plan to reopen Campsfield House in his Bicester and Woodstock constituency.

The site closed in 2019 after years of problems including hunger strikes, self harm and suicides.

“When people are raising questions about how existing regimes are being administered, it’s very questionable why you would then rush to expand it,” Mr Miller said.

“I don’t think this is about just having a concern about a local question. It is about a national policy question. And I do believe that MPs across the House will share those concerns.”

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