UK PM Keir Starmer vows to fight smuggling gangs like terrorists

London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday pledged to deploy much of the tried and tested counter-terrorism strategy towards smashing people smuggling gangs, as he unveiled a GBP 75 million investment boost for the country’s border security efforts.

In a speech at the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) General Assembly at Glasgow in Scotland, Starmer highlighted the importance of collaborations and revealed that he had sent British prosecutors to Pakistan to “work together on counter-terrorism”. He stressed that illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity and called for coordinated efforts to stamp out the “vile trade” of people smugglers.

“People-smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism,” stated Starmer.

“We’ve got to combine resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream, working together to shut down the smuggling routes. We do that with terrorism. When I was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), it was my personal mission to smash the terrorist gangs; and we worked across borders to ensure the safety of citizens, across Europe and across the world. Now, as the UK’s Prime Minister, it is my personal mission to smash the people smuggling gangs,” said the former chief prosecutor of Britain.

Alluding to the previous Conservative Party government’s slogan of “stop the boats”, Starmer asserted that his Labour government is resetting the UK’s whole approach to this challenge.

“No more gimmicks. No more gesture politics. No more irresponsible, undeliverable promises that almost by design – seek conflict with other countries,” he said.

In a clear departure from Tory policies, Starmer pledged the UK would never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) under Labour.

He added: “Indeed, we’re proud of the role the UK played in creating that Convention. Respecting international treaties also makes international co-operation easier, because it shows that the UK is a reliable partner.

So our approach is different.

"We’re going to treat people smugglers like terrorists. So we’re taking our approach to counter-terrorism – which we know works – and applying it to the gangs, with our new Border Security Command (BSC). We’re ending the fragmentation between policing, Border Force and our intelligence agencies. Recruiting hundreds of specialist investigators.” With this week’s announcement, BSC funding goes up to GBP 150 million towards extra staff to strengthen global partnerships, additional specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the National Crime Agency (NCA), new NCA technology around advanced data exploitation, and boosting the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) ability to deliver quicker charges on people smuggling international organised crime cases.

Downing Street also released ad-hoc statistics to claim that 9,400 returns of illegal migrants have been recorded since the Starmer-led government took charge in July. This included 2,590 enforced returns of people with no legal right to remain in the UK, compared with 2,170 enforced returns over the same period in 2023, an increase of 19 per cent. The issue of illegal migration, especially through precarious small boat crossings across the English Channel, has been a major concern and played a key role in the general election campaign.

"It is a shame that Starmer has not recognised the extent of the crisis in the Channel sooner, as he and the Labour Party voted against numerous measures to stop the gangs while they were in Opposition,” said a Tory spokesperson, days after the party elected a new leader in Kemi Badenoch.

The Nigerian-heritage former Cabinet minister, who succeeds Rishi Sunak as Leader of the Opposition, has been putting the final touches to her shadow Cabinet who will start taking their place in the House of Commons this week.