We must control immigration otherwise our security will be threatened and the public will never trust us
Immigration needs to be properly controlled and managed, so the system is fair.
Without proper controls in place, border security is undermined, rules are flouted, the system becomes chaotic and public trust is eroded.
That is exactly what happened over the last five years as successive Tory Prime Ministers lost control of border security, and the asylum and immigration systems.
The result was that both legal and illegal migration shot up and public confidence tumbled down.
Legal migration rose to a record high because employers were incentivised to hire hundreds of thousands of workers from abroad, even while training was cut here at home.
At the same time, criminal gangs were allowed to take hold along the Channel, making hundreds of millions of pounds organising dangerous small boat crossings, while asylum decision making
stopped, and returns of those with no right to be here plummeted.
When Labour came into power in July, every element of the immigration and asylum system we inherited was in complete disarray.
From day one, we have been working to restore control, to fix the chaos and get these systems back on track.
That means strengthening border security, going after the criminal gangs, clearing the chaotic asylum backlog, and crucially increasing enforcement and returns.
For a start the rules have to be respected and enforced. They haven’t been for far too long.
Straight after the election, we moved 1,000 more staff into immigration enforcement activity to increase returns for people who don’t have a right to be in the UK.
This has already led to 13,500 returns since the election, with enforced returns up by a quarter compared to last year.
Thirty three return charter flights have operated across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, including the four biggest return flights in the UK’s history.
We have also increased illegal working raids by almost a third this summer, leading to over 2,000 arrests.
Six business owners have been charged with employing people illegally in the last five months, compared to just four in the previous two and a half years under the Tories.
It’s nowhere near enough, but it is a start along the right path. Enforcement teams will get new technology including body worn cameras and biometric kits so they can get evidence on the spot.
Employers who profit from illegal working and disgraceful exploitation are undermining both the immigration system and the economy as businesses who play by the rules are undercut.
Alongside proper respect for the rules here at home, we are pursuing much stronger action against the criminal smuggler and trafficking gangs who operate across borders.
They have been getting away with undermining our border security and putting lives at risk for far too long.
Since the General Election, we’ve set up a new Border Security Command to work with law enforcement agencies across Europe and beyond to carry out joint operations and share intelligence.
We’ve recruited 100 new specialist investigators and invested £150million in tools and equipment to boost our border security.
Criminal smuggler gangs operate across borders.
So law enforcement and Governments have to cooperate across borders to bring them down.
For too long that serious cross border law enforcement has been far too weak and it was badly neglected under the last Government who
wasted time on gimmicks instead.
That’s why we have struck a new Anti-Smuggling Action Plan with G7 partners, to strengthen policing cooperation and make it easier to prosecute smugglers.
Last week, the Calais Group – the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – agreed a new plan to go further with better intelligence-sharing and coordination to stop smugglers advertising online.
Since then, the French Interior Minister has announced additional police resources to pursue gangs along the French coast.
And I have signed a first-of-its kind deal with Germany to go after gangs who are storing small boats and engines in huge warehouses.
German changes to their law will help stop the boats reaching the
French coast.
We will work with Europol, and with the Iraqi Government and Kurdish authorities, to pursue Iraqi-Kurdish gangs operating across our country following new agreements I negotiated
earlier this month.
Problems won’t be fixed overnight, but we are starting to see the results.
In the last few weeks alone, we have seen the arrest of a major suspect in supplying boats in the
Netherlands and a major operation in Germany and France against a key smuggler gang which seized multiple boats and engines destined for the French coast—boats that could have led to thousands more people trying to cross the Channel this winter.
The British people want change, and that is what we are delivering. In place of the failed gimmicks of the past, a Labour Government has a serious and sensible plan to strengthen our border security and
rebuild trust in a controlled and managed asylum and immigration system.
For generations the UK has done our bit to help those fleeing persecution, and seen people travel here and across the world to set up businesses or work in local services.
But for those systems to work, they need to be controlled and managed and the rules need to be respected and enforced.
That means no hiding places, and no more excuses for those who undermine our border security, employ illegal workers,
and ignore the rules.