Sir Keir Starmer faces serious questions for trying to thwart our work to stop the boats
SIR Keir Starmer faces serious questions about his links with charities and lawyers who have campaigned to thwart our work to stop the boats.
Today we learn that a top lawyer who advised Labour on anti-racism policies is at the forefront of efforts to stop people being deported to Rwanda.
While a Labour council leader has also campaigned to stop deportation flights – a key part of our policy to tackle the scourge of illegal immigration.
Labour tried to block our Stop The Boats Act in Parliament, voting against it more than 80 times – and now their colleagues and pals are working to sabotage our plan in the courts.
They are using every trick and tactic to delay and prevent us from removing people with no right to remain in the UK.
And as they do so, they put two fingers up to the law-abiding majority who suffer from illegal migration.
They place the interests of illegal arrivals above the hard-working British people.
They don’t believe we have a right to enforce our borders, they think we should give a free pass to illegal migrants to cross from France and argue that people here illegally shouldn’t be sent home.
It is little wonder Labour doesn’t have a plan to stop the boats.
It’s an embarrassing policy area for them that Sir Keir tries his best to avoid speaking about, despite ordering his MPs to vote down our new laws at every opportunity.
And as Labour persistently undermines our efforts to stop the boats, they impose the costs of illegal migration on everyone but themselves.
Welsh Labour have declared themselves a “nation of sanctuary” but they are housing fewer than half the migrants they should per capita.
As a result, local communities in England bear the disproportionate burden.
Given the chance, Labour would let the cost of illegal migration to the taxpayer spiral, leaving an £11billion hole in the public finances, billions which could be better spent on the NHS or keeping taxes low to help with the cost of living.
Despite everything that’s being thrown at us, the Home Secretary and I are getting on with the job of delivering on our commitment to the people to stop the boats, taking the tough decisions Labour doesn’t have the backbone for.
We are going beyond the goal line of northern France to take the fight to the people smugglers’ operations before they are in striking distance of the UK.
I have been shuttling between key partners like Belgium and Italy to deepen the co-operation between our law enforcement bodies to smash the gangs.
And at home we are removing the pull factors.
Our commitment
We have doubled illegal working raids on last year and shifted to alternative, basic forms of accommodation such as disused military sites to remove the incentive to ever leave the safety of France in a flimsy dinghy.
Despite Labour’s best efforts, there were 60 per cent more enforced returns in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022 – the highest level since 2019.
Our landmark Stop The Boats Act is the toughest piece of legislation we have ever passed to combat the problem and was backed by the overwhelming majority of the British public.
It goes further than ever before to make it clear that those who arrive here illegally from a safe country will have no route to a life in the UK, and instead will be removed to a safe country such as Rwanda.
As for Sir Keir, he will be rubbing his hands with glee as his acolytes conspire with him to do his bidding and frustrate our plan to stop the boats.
But it is this Government that will keep working day in, day out to uphold our pledge to the British people.