Labour detention plan not likely to stop small boats, says former head of Border Force
Labour’s plan to increase detention capacity is unlikely to stop small boat crossings and the “only real solution” is a deal with the EU, the former head of the UK’s Border Force has said.
Tony Smith told Sky News while the new government’s announcements – including reopening removal centres and staffing up the National Crime Agency (NCA) – showed it was “serious about immigration enforcement”, the challenge is vast.
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The scepticism comes as a local MP in the area where one of the detention facilities is located vowed to fight the plan, saying the site has a “dark history” and accusing Labour of dodging scrutiny.
Mr Smith said that while the now-scrapped Rwanda scheme would have targeted people from high-intake countries – essentially those who would qualify for asylum – the focus now is on a smaller cohort of people who have no right to remain.
That will likely only lead to a “fairly modest” increase in removals, he said.
He added: “There are steps under way in the Home Office to try to raise the removals rate which are all good things.
“But it’s going to be a big ask to see what kind of a dent this makes on small boat and irregular migration intake going forward.”
Tony Smith – former director general of the UK Border Force
‘Only so much government can do’
The Tories’ flagship Rwanda scheme intended to send people who arrived in the UK by small boat to Kigali to have their asylum claims processed there. If they were successful, they would have been granted refugee status to stay in the East African nation, not the UK.
The controversial plan failed to get off the ground after years of legal challenges, with Sir Keir Starmer declaring it “dead and buried” within days of taking office.
Labour’s returns plan is different in that it will target people who are here illegally – for example, if their asylum claims are rejected because their home country is deemed safe.
However, Mr Smith said it is not always easy to remove failed asylum seekers, while lots of people who arrive by small boat will likely qualify for protection if they are coming from places like Iraq and Syria.
The prime minister’s commitment to instead “smash the gangs” who smuggle people into the UK is “the right thing” he said, but “there’s only so much the government can do”.
“This is international organised crime. It requires an international approach,” Mr Smith said.
In his view, the “only real solution” is a third-country agreement with the EU, such as sending migrants who cross the Channel back to France.
However, while “that is possible in international law”, it would be “politically difficult” as the bloc would want something in return.
Pic: PA
Returns down 40%
Labour campaigned on a manifesto to scrap the Rwanda scheme, calling it an unworkable “gimmick” that had already cost £700m without anyone having been sent there.
It vowed to divert the money into a “Border Security Command” to tackle people-smuggling gangs bringing migrants across the Channel, as well as clearing the asylum backlog to save money on hotels and removing people with no right to be here.
According to the Home Office, the removal of failed asylum seekers had dropped 40% since 2010, the start of the Conservatives’ 14-year period in government before they were ousted in July.
Plans announced this week include bolstering the National Crime Agency (NCA) with up to 100 new specialist intelligence officers to disrupt immigration gangs and targeting businesses which employ illegal immigrants.
Labour also said they would increase detention capacity by re-opening two Immigration Removal Centres (IRC) – Campsfield House in Oxfordshire and Haslar in Hampshire – initially with 290 beds.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the beefed-up NCA will work with Europol to help “smash criminal smuggling gangs”, while increasing returns will “establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long”.
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But Ms Cooper’s opposite number, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, said it was a “pathetic response to a really challenging situation”.
And Lib Dem MP Calum Miller said repairing the immigration system “should be done thoughtfully, not through a mid-summer press release when there can be no parliamentary scrutiny”, as he warned he would fight the plan to reopen Campsfield House in his Bicester and Woodstock constituency.
The site closed in 2019 after years of problems including hunger strikes, self harm and suicides.
“When people are raising questions about how existing regimes are being administered, it’s very questionable why you would then rush to expand it,” Mr Miller said.
“I don’t think this is about just having a concern about a local question. It is about a national policy question. And I do believe that MPs across the House will share those concerns.”
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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