Exclusive:
Writing for The Mirror, Border Security and Asylum Minister Dame Angela Eagle says Labour is finally replacing chaos with control, after a groundbreaking returns deal was agreed with France
Over the last six years under the last government a sprawling people smuggling industry with tentacles that stretch across borders and continents has built up.
These gangs have formed a multi-billion pound criminal enterprise and have exploited the chaotic systems that have been in place. Lives have been lost. Border security has been undermined. Public trust has been damaged.
Replacing chaos with control is my priority. We cannot solve the small boats crisis by shouting at France like the Tories did for years. That is why, for several months, the Home Secretary and her French counterpart have been working closely together, brokering a groundbreaking scheme.
On Thursday the Prime Minister and French President announced a new returns scheme, a groundbreaking initiative that for the first time will see us return migrants to France in exchange for someone coming to the UK from France who are fully documented and subject to security and biometric checks.
This is a historic step-forward. No government has got the level of co-operation needed to take forward new and bold measures like this.
A pilot is expected to be put into action in weeks. It is designed to fundamentally undermine the central promise at the heart of the gangs’ business model by showing those tempted to cross the Channel in a small boat that, even if they reach the UK, they should not expect to stay.
This is just one further step of a new approach to join forces with other governments to attack these gangs from every possible angle – going after their money, their people and their evil business model.
Alongside the pilot, the French Government are working to implement new ways of cracking down on small boats launching from the French coastline. And, domestically, we are also taking steps to prevent criminals from pitching the UK as a safe haven for illegal working. Illegal working visits and arrests have surged by 51% compared to the previous 12 months.
Just this week I was out with police and Immigration Enforcement officers in Bristol where we stopped people with no right to work in the UK. Meanwhile, we have achieved the highest rate of returns for years – with almost 30,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other immigration offenders sent back to countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.
This week’s Summit, and the new pilot, are important steps forward in our shared effort to dismantle the smuggling gangs and smash their business model. But there is more to do and there is no silver bullet. We are bringing order to the chaotic systems we inherited.