Riot-style speedy justice for small vessels

Migrant smugglers will be swiftly prosecuted, as will summer rioters, as part of a crackdown on Channel crossings announced by Sir Keir Starmer on Monday.

The Prime Minister will order the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to speed up charges against people smugglers as part of a £150 million package to tackle the small craft crisis.

Downing Street said Sir Keir wanted to repeat efforts earlier this year which brought all parts of the government together to deliver justice quickly after the “banditry” seen during the riots that erupted over the murders of three young girls in Southport in July.

More than 1,000 people were charged with rioting, violent disorder and other crimes, and dozens were jailed for up to 10 years within weeks of committing their crimes.

The £150 million will help fund more prosecutors and hire 400 investigators and border security officers armed with new counter-terrorism-style powers to detect, target and convict gang members.

More migrants have crossed the English Channel this year than in all of 2023. The milestone was reached just months after Sir Keir abandoned the Rwandan deportation scheme introduced by the Conservatives to curb small boats.

The Home Office continues to house asylum seekers in hotels to cope with a surge in refugee numbers, despite promising in its manifesto to end the practice.

Sir Keir will urge partner countries to treat human smuggling as a “national security” crisis, requiring the same tactics used to combat terrorists.

Speaking at the Interpol General Assembly in Glasgow, Sir Keir will say: “The world needs to wake up to the seriousness of this problem. I was elected to keep the British people safe. And strong boundaries are part of that. But security is not limited to our borders. There is nothing progressive about turning a blind eye to the deaths of men, women and children in the English Channel.

“This is a vile trade that must be eradicated wherever it thrives. So we’re taking our counter-terrorism approach that we know works and applying it to gangs through our new Border Security Command. We are ending the fragmentation between police, border agencies and our intelligence agencies.”

On Tuesday, seeking to replicate the government’s approach to the unrest, he will gather ministers for the first monthly meeting of an inter-ministerial group to oversee a crackdown on people smugglers.

They will include Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood, who is responsible for the courts, Attorney General Richard Germer, who is responsible for the CPS, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Ms Cooper writes in The Telegraph that international cooperation is central to the Government’s “new approach” to the issue, saying: “The best way to strengthen the UK’s border security is to work with neighboring countries who face the same challenges, rather than just stand on the shore and scream at the sea.”

The closure of the Rwanda scheme has helped free up £150 million to fund new measures, spread over two years.

The cash will be used to recruit more staff for the Government’s new Border Security Command, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the CPS, as well as fund new listening and surveillance equipment to step up the use of covert and undercover tactics against gangs.

The command, which will co-ordinate investigations into the NCA, MI5 and Border Force in the UK and overseas, will recruit 300 staff to work with partner countries and introduce laws giving officers new powers in counter-terrorism.

The NCA will be given 100 more investigators and intelligence officers to tackle people smuggling.