Achi news desk-
SUN readers have a right to expect security at our borders. And they have a right to expect their government to protect that security at all costs.
But with record numbers of people arriving in small boats crossing the Channel to Britain – over 8,500 so far this year and counting – it’s no wonder the British people are worried.
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The current system is not only broken, it is stuck. Wave after wave of small boats, the backlog of asylums is getting longer, and criminal gangs are making money in the process.
The government is failing in its first duty – to keep our country safe with secure borders.
Instead of dealing with the problem upstream and going after the gangs that run the trade, our government is letting thousands of boats come to our shores with an expensive gimmick that tries to stop it.
There is no clearer example of the contagion of safety politics than this, and I am delighted that Natalie Elphick, the former Tory MP for Dover, has joined the Labor Party in pointing out Rishi Sunak’s failure to deal with the small boat crisis.
This is a serious problem, and it requires a serious answer – hard graft, not gimmicks.
We need to break the profitable model used overseas by criminal gangs and stop the flow of boats coming here and overwhelming our border security forces.
Don’t take my word for it. The government’s report on the Border Force, commissioned by former Home Secretary Priti Patel, found an organization “struggling to break out of a cycle of crisis management”.
She concluded that a “whole system approach” is needed to stop illegal entry by small boats, with law enforcement and intelligence agencies working together across borders to crush the gangs that send people here in the first place. I am determined to provide it.
When I was the country’s chief prosecutor, I smashed terrorist gangs abroad, and ironically I was praised by the then home secretary, Theresa May.
If I am elected prime minister, I would destroy gangs that smuggle people like I destroyed terrorist gangs. and so
We will end the chaos of several different agencies operating on our border, working in silos, not sharing data and intelligence on the activities of these evil gangs.
Instead, Labor would create a new elite border security command. It will bring together the best minds and the best technology and intelligence to stay one step ahead of the gangs.
It will work cross-border with the likes of Europol to go after the gangs upstream in France, Germany, Turkey and elsewhere.
‘end the chaos’
We will use new powers to access bank accounts, track internet usage and track the movements of gang criminals.
These despicable people smugglers are no better than terrorists, and we must treat them as such.
They are a threat to national security and a threat to life, so we need to use counter-terrorism forces to go after them – that means stop and search powers at the border including body searches and the seizure of mobile phones for anyone crossing the border suspected of people smuggling.
Crucially, our plans will strengthen our border security so Sun readers can trust the asylum system again.
We will go further. The UK has one of the best security services in the world.
So, we will use the skills of MI5, train hundreds of top investigators and get to work hunting down, arresting and imprisoning the people smugglers.
The only real deterrent is a system that works. This is why a new return and enforcement unit will end the Tory chaos – where currently tens of thousands of asylum seekers are not processed, detained or removed. We will recruit more people to the unit to break the load.
There will be no amnesties. We will maintain our proud tradition as a nation of supporting those fleeing persecution.
And at the same time, we will act quickly to bring back those who should not have been here. In doing so, Labor will end the use of hotels for asylum seekers which costs the taxpayer nearly £8 million a day.
Crucially, our plans will strengthen our border security so Sun readers can trust the asylum system again.
We need to end the chaos and decay of the Tory years and get Britain back on its feet. This can only happen with change – and a Labor government.
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