Sir Keir Starmer – anti-terrorism to tackle boat people
Sir Keir Starmer – anti-terrorism to tackle boat people
Labour announced plans to use counter-terrorism powers against gangs smuggling people across the Channel.
The Labour leader says the party will get rod of Rwanda police straight away. Will replace the policy permanently.
Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said he will establish a new Border Security Command with specialist officers to target people smugglers.
Sir Keir announced the plans in Dover alongside local MP Natalie Elphicke who dramatically defected from the Conservatives to Labour on Wednesday.
The Conservatives called the plans a “re-brand” of government schemes.
Speaking ahead of Labour’s policy launch in Dover, Ms Elphicke took a shot at her former boss. Natalie claimed “nowhere is Rishi Sunak’s lack of delivery clearer than on the issue of small boats”.
Natalie’s constituency is the arrival point for many people who make the dangerous journey across the English Channel.
“A fresh approach needed – an approach that puts at its heart a commitment to border security,” she said.
Under Labour’s plans, counter-terror powers also extended to cover organised immigration crime. This includes the power to search people suspected of being involved in people smuggling.
Close bank accounts, restrict travel and trace movements before an offence taken place.
The party’s planned Border Security Command be modelled on the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. This set up by the last Labour government and would bring together the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement, the CPS and MI5.
The plans praised by former counter-terror chief Neil Basu.
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