Labour has defended its proposals to tackle the small boats crisis after the government accused it of pursuing an 'open border policy'. Sir Keir Starmer has said he would aim to negotiate a returns agreement with EU countries to send back some failed asylum seekers if Labour wins power.
Government ministers claim the policy would lead to 100,000 illegal migrants a year being shipped to the UK. But this was rejected as 'garbage' by Labour's shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the figures were based on a returns scheme for EU member states, which the UK cannot join as it is not a member.
Cooper explained that Labour's policy would involve 'controlled and managed but safe routes for children who have family in the UK'. She also set out plans to end the use of hotels, barges and former military bases to house asylum seekers, recruiting 1,000 new caseworkers to clear the asylum backlog and setting up temporary Nightingale Asylum Courts.
Labour is also promising to fast-track decisions on applications from 'safe' countries, such as Albania and India. The party claims that once the asylum backlog is clear, there will be no need for hotels, barges or former military bases, which Cooper said are costing taxpayers more than £2bn a year.
However, Matt Wrack, president of the Trade Union Congress, told the Guardian that Sir Keir was in 'danger of pandering to right wing Tory rhetoric' on immigration. The Conservatives' claim that Labour would let in 100,000 illegal migrants assumes the party would sign up to taking 13% of all asylum seekers arriving in the EU, but Labour has said it would not and could not join an EU quota scheme.
