Labour needs its own answer to the Channel crisis

Given the complexities of modern government, with all its pitfalls and unforeseeable reverses, pointing out when ministers have made a mess of things is certainly an important part of the repertoire of opposition – the equivalent of a boxer’s jab in our pugilistic political system. But the ‘it’s a shambles’ method of politics can only take an opposition party or its leader so far.

On the rare occasions that Labour has talked about illegal migration across the English Channel since Boris Johnson became PM and Priti Patel was appointed Home Secretary, this has been its favoured line of attack.

Earlier in the month Keir Starmer told BBC Radio 4: ‘The Home Secretary repeatedly says in strong language what she is going to do about the immediate problem and delivers absolutely nothing.’

A week or so ago shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds declared: ‘The Home Secretary’s incompetence on this matter is dangerous.’ Given the tragic drownings in the Channel that followed a few days later he may feel entitled to congratulate himself on his prescience.

But there comes a point, often when an issue has risen up the list of voter concerns, when an opposition must add depth to its message.