Starmer’s plan to ‘smash the gangs’ won’t work

We are approaching the fifth anniversary of British prime ministers promising to stem the tide of illegal migration across the English Channel. It was in late August 2019 that Boris Johnson did a piece to camera in which he warned potential new waves of illegal immigrants: ‘We will send you back.’ In the event, hardly anyone got sent back anywhere.

Next up was Rishi Sunak, who hyped up the Rwanda removals plan that he had sought to block on value for money grounds when Johnson first proposed it. Sunak promised nothing less than to ‘stop the boats’ via the creation of the Rwanda deterrent. The boats were not stopped. In fact, Sunak left office with cross-Channel arrivals having hit a new record rate. And nobody at all was removed to Rwanda against their will.

These days Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have a new chosen soundbite: ‘Smash the gangs.’