Sir Keir Starmer has said 24,000 people have been returned since Labour took power as he opened the government’s border security summit.
The PM, giving his opening remarks to the summit, said those returned “have no right to be here” and said it was the “highest return rates for eight years”.
Since Labour took office, 29,884 people have been detected crossing the Channel on 542 small boats.
Politics latest: PM and Trump discuss ‘productive negotiations’ towards US-UK ‘prosperity’ deal
Interior ministers and law enforcement from more than 40 countries are at the meeting at Lancaster House, next to St James’ Palace in central London.
Meta, X and TikTok representatives are also there to discuss how to tackle the online promotion of illegal migration.
Sir Keir told the gathering he was “angry” about the scale of illegal immigration around the world as he said it was a “massive driver of global insecurity”.
Illegal migration ‘pits nations against one another’, Sir Keir Starmer to tell summit
Starmer and Trump discuss ‘productive negotiations’ towards US-UK ‘prosperity’ deal
Make America a Commonwealth member? Trump would see himself as equal to the King
“The truth is, we can only smash these gangs once and for all if we work together,” he said.
“Because this evil trade, it exploits the cracks between our institutions. It pits nations against one another. It profits from our inability at the political level to come together.”
He said countries around the world need to band together, and people smuggling should be treated as a global security threat similar to terrorism.
Combining resources and sharing intelligence and tactics is the only way to tackle organised immigration crime, he added.
“None of these strategies, as you know, are a silver bullet. I know that,” he told the summit.
“But each of them is another tool, an arsenal that we’re building up to smash the gangs once and for all. We must pull every lever available.”
The prime minister criticised the previous Conservative government for allowing illegal migration to soar, saying: “For too long the UK has been a soft touch on migration.”
He said a lack of co-ordination between the police and intelligence agencies had been an “open invitation” for people smugglers to send migrants to the UK.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme the summit is necessary because illegal migration is a “global problem”.
She also called the summit “unprecedented”, with countries from all over the world participating, including the US, Vietnam, Iraq and France.
Read more:
Government looking at countries to process asylum seekers in
Bosses who fail to check employees’ immigration status may face jail
Early on Monday morning, Ms Cooper announced £30m will go towards funding “high impact operations” by the Border Security Command (BSC) to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Western Balkans, Asia and Africa.
Follow our channel and never miss an update.
An additional £3m will be provided to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to increase its capacity to prosecute organised international smugglers and to support the BSC to pursue and arrest those responsible for people smuggling operations.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
