UK and Turkey announce deal to ‘disrupt’ people smuggling gangs
The UK and Turkey will work together to “disrupt and dismantle” people smuggling gangs under a new deal announced today.
A new operational “centre of excellence” will be established by the Turkish National Police as part of the agreement and both countries will also share intelligence.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said he was unable to disclose the amount of money handed over by the UK government as part of the deal.
He told GB News only that “we are giving some funding”, adding: “It is not primarily about money.
“This is mainly about the sharing of intelligence and information between our world-leading police and security services and their law enforcement authorities, so that if we find out something important, that can be acted upon quickly, and vice versa.”
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Has the Home Office lost its grip?
It comes as Downing Street is accused of seeking to distract from what Labour has said are “catastrophic failures” on its immigration policy.
On Monday just 15 asylum seekers boarded the Bibby Stockholm barge, after legal challenges by lawyers stopped 20 others from moving onto the floating vessel.
Ultimately the accommodation, docked in Portland Port off the coast of Dorset, will only house 500 single males – fewer than 1% of the number of people awaiting for their asylum claims to be processed.
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Labour has called on the government to get a grip of the asylum case backlog and said a series of announcements this week – including a crackdown on a “tiny minority” of dodgy immigration lawyers – are nothing more than “headline-grabbing moments”.
The Law Society also accused the government of “lawyer-bashing” with the announcement of work that is not new.
The government has been largely focusing on finding cheaper forms of accommodation to reduce the expensive hotel bill for asylum seekers, hoping this will also act as a deterrent for people crossing the channel.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the new partnership with Turkey will concentrate on trying to “smash the people smuggling gangs” in order to “stop the boats”.
She said: “Our partnership with Turkey, a close friend and ally, will enable our law enforcement agencies to work together on this international problem and tackle the small boat supply chain.”
According to the Home Office, the export of small boats and boat parts across the continent of Europe in order to facilitate illegal crossings to the UK is a vital element of people smugglers’ tactics.
The deal with Turkey aims to facilitate the swifter exchange of customs data, information and intelligence between UK and Turkish authorities, bolstering the collaborative efforts to disrupt the supply chain of materials employed in illegal migration.
The centre will allow for greater collaboration between the National Crime Agency and Home Office Intelligence staff based in Turkey and their Turkish counterparts, with the UK set to deploy more officers to Turkey to help with joint operations.
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The defence secretary has said he is “angry inside” over the infected blood scandal ahead of a long-waited report into the decades-long injustice.
Grant Shapps told Sky News he agreed it had been one of the most “shameful failures” of government and said he was dismayed by the “lack of anybody taking responsibility”.
The findings of a public inquiry into the scandal, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, are due to be published on Monday.
From 1970 to the 1990s, tens of thousands of people were infected with contaminated blood through blood products or blood transfusions given via the NHS. People were infected with hepatitis or HIV – in some cases with both.
An estimated 3,000 people died as a result.
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Mr Shapps told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the scandal was a “massive injustice which needs to be put right” and said the government would act on the report.
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Thousands of people died after being given infected blood
He said that while he was yet to see the report, he hoped it would finally allow families’ pain and loss to be acknowledged and for the government to properly respond.
Mr Shapps said he had spoken to relatives of several victims, including a couple who had lost their son, and said their stories made feel him “angry inside”.
He added: “It just made me angry to know they had lost their son without anyone ever taking responsibility, so I think this is why this report tomorrow is very important.”
Successive governments have been blamed for failing to take responsibility and the current government has been accused of trying to delay compensation to victims after an inquiry was first set up by Theresa May in 2017.
It is estimated that the compensation bill could now exceed £10m.
The defence secretary admitted the process of delivering payouts to victims had gone on for “so long”.
He added: “This is a massive injustice which needs to be put right.
“And I know the government said we will. The report tomorrow, I think, will be the day for that family and others and I know the government will want to respond quickly.”
Asked whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would apologise to the victims, Mr Shapps said: “I don’t want to mislead because I don’t have special insight into that.”
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Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting also told Trevor Phillips that he expected “successive governments” to be criticised in the report by Sir Brian.
“Everyone has got their responsibility to bear in this appalling scandal and we have got a shared responsibility to put it right,” he said.
“The moment to act can’t come soon enough.”
Sir Brian is due to deliver his final report just after midday on Monday.
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