crossorigin="anonymous"> Cooper would not set a timetable for cutting ‘dangerous’ boat crossings. – Subrang Safar: Your Journey Through Colors, Fashion, and Lifestyle

Cooper would not set a timetable for cutting ‘dangerous’ boat crossings.


Yvette Cooper says slogans will not solve the problem of small boat passage.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC the level of “dangerous” illegal Channel crossings was “very high” but refused to set a timetable for reducing the numbers.

More than 20,000 people have arrived illegally on UK shores since Labor took power, up from 17,020 during the same period last year.

It comes as the Home Office said it was on track for the largest number of failed refugee returns in five years, with around 13,500 people sent back to their home countries since the election in July.

During a visit to Rome, Cooper told the BBC’s Sunday Show with Laura Queensberg that home secretaries had a “bad history” of making migration promises which they then failed to deliver.

Four of the largest return flights have been launched since July, Cooper said, and the number of illegal raids and arrests has increased by a third since then.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip said the return figures were a continuation of “the upward trajectory we were on during the previous government”.

Restoring order in the asylum and immigration system is about “restoring respect for the rules, enforcing the rules and ensuring their return,” Cooper said.

There is an increase in small boat crossings Mostly due to increase in the month of OctoberHome Office sources pointed to a higher number of days during the month when seas were calmer than last year.

The number of migrants crossing in Labour’s first five months in office is equivalent to the 20,839 crossing between July and November in 2021.

Cooper told the BBC: “These levels are so high, it’s dangerous what’s happening.

“Of course we want to continue development, of course we want the boat ramps to come down as soon as possible.

“What we are not going to do is deal with it with slogans. Rishi Sanak said he will stop the boats in a year.”

A graphic showing the total number of people crossing the English Channel in boats.

Labor scrapped the previous government’s plan to send some refugees to Rwanda to stop the crossing.

The scheme was first announced in April 2022 under Boris Johnson, but was yet to be launched until after the election.

Cooper previously called the policy a “ridiculous waste of money”. Instead, the government says it will try to reduce crossings by cracking down on gangs that smuggle people into the UK.

The government announced on Sunday that £8 million would be earmarked for new technology to “speed up immigration enforcement operations”, including body-worn cameras and fingerprinting kits.

The new technology will help operational teams as they build cases “against those working illegally in the UK or the unscrupulous businesses that employ them”.

Biometric fingerprinting kits will be given to those on the frontline, which the government says will enable immigration enforcement officers to cross-check detainees against police databases “on the spot”.

The Home Secretary also suggested that she hopes to speed up asylum claims from countries deemed safe, removing them from the UK more quickly, as well as potentially opening more countries to safe havens. Will add to the list where people should go back.

Cooper denied that migration had fallen down the government’s priority list, although there were no specific “milestone” targets set by the prime minister.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “We have made it clear that border security … is one of the foundations. We have made it clear that we need to reduce both legal migration and illegal migration. It is the government’s clear priority to tackle these dangerous boat crossings.”

As she prepares for meetings in Rome with the government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney to discuss cooperation on the illegal financing of the people-smuggling trade, Cooper said the fight against illegal migration The government’s approach to “step by step … we’re being very clear and direct. About the complexity of it with people, because the gimmicks didn’t work.”

The meeting with his Italian counterpart Matteo Piandetosi came at the end of a week of diplomacy on border controls.

According to a Home Office readout of their talks, Cooper and Pianditossi spoke of the importance of “taking an end-to-end approach” to tackling illegal migration.

The two leaders are said to have agreed in September to follow up on a pledge by both prime ministers to “follow the money” when it comes to the illegal financing of people-smuggling gangs. is

Earlier this week, Germany and Britain agreed a deal to toughen Berlin law to make it easier to prosecute those who help smuggle people into the UK.

Under the new agreement, The Home Office says Germany has promised to make the activity a clear criminal offence.

Sunday 15 December on BBC One at 09:00 GMT with Laura Queensberg



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