We're paying France eye-watering £500m to stop the boats – but record numbers still come!
Keir Starmer has set a record for failure as 20,000 small boat migrants arrive, says Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp
Keir Starmer has just set a new national record – for failure. 2025 is set to be the worst year in our history for illegal Channel crossings. We have just hit 20,000 crossings faster than ever before. At this pace, Labour will obliterate the annual record, with projections estimating we could see up to 50,000 migrants cross the Channel this year.
As soon as they came to office, Labour scrapped the Illegal Migration Act, binned the duty to remove illegal arrivals, reopened the path to citizenship for those who broke the rules, and weakened age checks so adults can claim to be children with no consequences. It’s all there in their own Border Surrender Bill with less security, more chaos, and open borders.
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And Labour’s new grand plan is a one-in, one-out asylum exchange with France. We pay Macron half a billion to wave boats off from Calais and we take the same number of asylum seekers anyway. It’s a migrant merry-go-round of madness that the former head of Border Force says won’t make a dent.
Illegal immigration cannot be reduced without removals and deterrence – even the National Crime Agency has said so. Australia saw dramatic reductions in illegal arrivals after introducing offshore removals, because real deterrents work when you actually use them.
Meanwhile, Reform UK is missing in action. They promised an immigration plan by May, yet we’ve had nothing but tumbleweed and trepidation.
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It is blindingly clear that only one party has the courage and conviction to tackle this crisis head-on. While Labour rolls over and Reform rants without a plan, the Conservative Party put forwards a real, workable solutions.
Our Deportation Bill does what it says on the tin. If you come here illegally, you will be removed – no excuses, no loopholes. We’ll disapply the Human Rights Act in immigration cases, block bogus claims, and double the time needed to get Indefinite Leave to Remain. Migration must serve Britain and not burden it.
We’ll cap numbers by law, toughen partner visas, sanction countries that won’t take their nationals back, and deport every foreign criminal. And if the only way to do that is to leave the ECHR, then we will. Kemi Badenoch’s Lawfare Commission is already laying the groundwork.
Only the Conservatives are willing to confront the hard truths, rip up the broken system, and put real power back in the hands of the British public. It’s time to restore control and restore our borders.
