Prime Minister Andy Burnham has suggested that Brexit is hampering the UK's ability to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Asked by BBC South East why crossings are still happening, Mr Burnham said: "I do point to the loss of collaboration with neighbours that came with Brexit. That hasn't helped.
"We had a more cooperative system, if you like, in the past, so we are not able to have the same levels of collaboration that we used to have, but I don't put that forward as a reason why we won't keep working until we get the crossings right down. That is our goal, that we don't want to see any crossings at all."
No date promised
He added: "I'm not going to give you a date by which we can do that, or a promise that we will do it, as other governments have done in terms of a particular deadline.
"But what I will say to you is I will not stop nor will the Home Secretary until we bear down every element of this criminal, illegal activity and that we do so in a way that gets the numbers right now."
Conservative reaction
Chris Philp, Conservative shadow home secretary, said: "Andy Burnham is gaslighting us all to hide his own failures, with over 1,000 illegal immigrants coming in this week alone."
He added that under previous EU rules, the UK "only ever sent a handful of people back to Europe", PA reported.
Mr Philp said: "The only way to stop the crossings is to deport all illegal immigrants upon arrival. To do this we need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and that's the one thing that Weak Borders Burnham will never do."
Crossing numbers
This week saw more than 700 people arrive in the UK on Wednesday and two vessels landing undetected on British shores within two days. But the overall number of crossings this year (18,609) is down 42% on this time last year (32,188), and 26% below the figure at this stage in 2024 (25,165).
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a three-year £662million agreement with France in Dunkirk in April.
