Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she will do “whatever it takes” to secure the country’s border as she toured the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) offices in Stratford, east London.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday afternoon, Ms Mahmood said the most important thing people needed to hear from their Home Secretary was that she was doing whatever it takes to secure the border. “And that is what I’ve been absolutely laser-light focused on from the moment I became the Home Secretary, taking all of the measures that I know are needed in order to secure our border,” she said.
Small boat crossings ‘beginning to bear fruit’
Ms Mahmood said the Government’s work to tackle small boat crossings was beginning to “bear fruit”, but she acknowledged further reforms were needed. “It’s why I’m pursuing immigration reform to address the pull factors that draw people into boats in the Channel,” she said. “I want to change the calculus. I want them to change their mind about whether they get on the boat in the first place.”
Removals are up 41% since Labour took power in 2024, with more than 70,000 deportations. She said the Government “will go further” on the issue and shared public concern. “I share their concern every time they see images of people crossing the Channel,” she said.
Asked why 2,000 people had crossed the Channel in small boats since Prime Minister Andy Burnham took office on July 20, Ms Mahmood said the NCA’s work was having an “impact”. “That’s why we’re doubling the number of NCA officers because we know that this is the work we need to do in order to secure our border,” she said.
She also said the number of deaths of people crossing the Channel had been “normalised”. Four migrants had died trying to cross in the last few days, she said, describing each of those deaths as a “tragedy”.
Safe and legal routes
Humanitarian charities have previously criticised the Government for not investing enough in safe pathways for people to enter the UK. In response, Ms Mahmood said she would open up safe and legal routes into the country for students as well as workers, and would reveal further plans on the issue later in the autumn.
“The thing about having a safe and legal route, which is what this government is going to pursue, is when we’re in control of who comes into our country, that decision is not being made by people smugglers and criminals across Europe,” Ms Mahmood said. “But this Government will do both. We will secure our border and offer sanctuary to those people who truly need it.”
Smuggling gangs ‘getting desperate’
Rob Jones, director-general of operations at the NCA, said one of the challenges facing the agency is that the gangs involved in people smuggling are “ruthless”. “They have no rules. They don’t care about the migrants, and they are exploiting them at scale,” he said.
He said another obstacle was that many of the criminal networks involved in people smuggling are based outside the UK. “That means that we can’t necessarily take direct action in the UK, and we need partners to do that with us,” he said. “And that’s what we’re much better at now, and we’re achieving much stronger results with partners overseas working with us internationally to prevent this.”
Asked if smugglers were getting better at evading detection, Mr Jones said: “I wouldn’t say they’re getting smarter. I think they’re getting desperate.”
