‘Life here is much more easy’: Migrants tell Sky News why PM’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ won’t work
As cabinet ministers and law enforcement teams were meeting to discuss ways to enact the prime minister’s pledge to “smash the gangs”, in a flat in Manchester Hassan was bathing a kitten he’s adopted since being granted asylum in Britain.
The 26-year-old knows all about the smuggling gangs that bring people over in small boats across the Channel from France.
He paid a gang around 2,000 euros (£1,690) to make the journey to the UK from Dunkirk four years ago.
He says there are “thousands” of people willing to take the money of people prepared to pay to get in a boat. Back home in Kurdistan he says they have offices and don’t need to advertise what they do because “everybody knows who they are”. Their business is based on recommendations and word of mouth.
He says there are “plenty” of gangs, adding “they all have contact with each other”. And he says he understands why offering people like him a future in the UK is such big business.
“Life here is much more easy than the other countries. And you can find a beautiful life in here and work”, he says, adding “even the government is helping the refugees here much better than the other countries”.
Migrants attempting to cross the Channel. File pic: Reuters
Also in the Manchester flat is Mohammed. We’ve changed both their names to protect their identities. Mohammed is 30, also from Kurdistan, and came to the UK by small boat last year.
Unlike Hassan, he didn’t pay smugglers back home but instead made his way to Calais where he said it was easy to find people to pay to get him in a boat.
He thinks a crackdown on gangs might reduce the number of crossings but believes there will always be other smugglers willing to take the place of those arrested.
Governments are remembered for action, not meetings
There is no bigger issue in British politics than illegal migration, and no one is more aware of that than the new prime minister.
He may only be two months into the job, but Sir Keir Starmer knows that a failure to bring down the number of small boats crossing the channel would define his premiership.
So, it was unsurprising that one of his first acts was to begin the process of turning his promise to “smash the gangs” into practice.
But what was surprising about today’s four-hour, high-level meeting was the absence of any memorable moment that might reassure a restless public.
Labour may want to ditch gimmicks and usher in an era of grown-up government, but just sitting around a table could make them look like they’re all talk and no bold action.
Flagship policies like the controversial Rwanda plan put forward by the previous administration are about more than getting headlines, they give voters a clear indication of what a party stands for.
When we look back on governments we remember the policies that changed the country, not the meetings, however long they last.
Despite tough talk from the new government and years of promises to “stop the boats” by the previous administration, thousands of people continue to make the perilous journey.
So far this year more than 20,000 people have arrived by small boat, more than during the same period last year.
Naveed and Mustafa are both 34 and from Iran. They came by small boat to the UK around 17 months ago.
They decided to pay smugglers to get them into Britain after being denied asylum in other European countries, including Germany. They each paid around £3,000.
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“It was the only option we had, even then we were told we would be put on a ferry to the UK but by the time they got us to the shore we were put on a boat and we had no option but to accept it because if we didn’t we would either be beaten up or we were told we would be shot,” Naveed told Sky News.
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They think a tougher approach by the UK government and law enforcement to tackle the smuggling gangs will have an impact, but don’t believe it will stop people trying to reach Britain.
“I would say there would be a major decrease in those attempting to come to the boats, however, there are other options that people could find to get to the UK,” Mustafa said.
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
Read more: Thousands of jobs at risk as British Steel consults unions over closure
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
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Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
British Steel declined to comment.
UK
Prince Andrew’s Pitch@Palace branded ‘crude attempt to enrich himself’ as Chinese spy documents set to be released
Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.
Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.
The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace
Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.
So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?
In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.
The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.
Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.
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Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?
Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.
But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.
Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.
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Who is Yang Tenbo?
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He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…
“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.
Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.
He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.
He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.
“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”
We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.
With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.
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