Illegal immigration makes me angry, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer said illegal immigration to the UK “makes me angry” as he urged countries from around the world to work together to stop people-smuggling gangs in the same way they would terrorists. Opening the first ever Organised Immigration Crime Summit in London, the Prime Minister said that “illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity” and “decisive action” was needed to address it. He said: “It undermines our ability to control who comes here and that makes people angry.

It makes me angry, frankly. “Because it is unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price, from the cost of hotels, to our public services struggling under the strain. “And it is unfair on the illegal migrants themselves because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.



” Representatives from 40 countries are attending the summit, including from Albania, Vietnam and Iraq – from where illegal migrants have travelled to the UK – as well as ministers from France, the US and China. Ministers and enforcement staff discussed international co-operation on illegal migration, as well as supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for people smuggling during the meeting. The Tories dismissed the summit as nothing more than a “talking shop”.

Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said he doubted the gathering of nations would achieve “anything at all”. He told GB News: “It sounds like a talking shop to me. The facts are clear.

The number of people coming across on small boats has risen by 31 per cent since Labour came to power. “Labour has lost control of the borders and frankly I don’t think they want to control them or else they wouldn’t have scrapped the Rwanda deterrent. Today’s meeting I doubt will achieve anything at all.

” You can join the conversation in the comments section. 12:50 PM BST That is all for today..

. Thank you for joining me for today’s live blog. 12:14 PM BST Starmer: Results are already coming through Sir Keir Starmer claimed people in the UK were already seeing results from the Government’s numerous crackdowns on small boat migrant Channel crossings.

The Prime Minister was asked when people would see changes and he told GB News: “The results are already coming through. Today we have been able to announce that 24,000 people who had no right to be here have now been removed. That is the highest rate for the best part of a decade.

“That is what happens if you concentrate on processing the cases and removing people who shouldn’t be here. Today is the largest gathering of countries absolutely focused on organised immigration crime.” Sir Keir added: “What we are showing is that if you roll your sleeves up, work with other countries, you can get the results which the whole country wants to see.

” 11:15 AM BST Farage: Starmer is smashing immigration records, not people smuggling gangs Nigel Farage claimed Sir Keir Starmer was “smashing” illegal immigration records rather than people smuggling gangs. The leader of Reform UK highlighted the number of small boat migrant Channel crossings since Labour took office last July. After Labour won the election, there were more than 23,000 crossings in the remaining months of 2024.

There have been approximately 6,000 crossings so far this year. Sir Keir has spoken repeatedly about his plan to “smash the gangs”. 10:53 AM BST Starmer vows to destroy people smuggling gangs ‘for good’ Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to break up people smuggling gangs “for good”.

In a direct message to the criminal network behind small boat migrant Channel crossings, the Prime Minister said: “We are breaking your business model and leaving you nowhere to hide.” Sir Keir said the UK was “boosting enforcement”, handing more powers to the police and pressing ahead with a plan to treat smugglers like terrorists. He said in a video posted on X: “This Government has returned over 20,000 people who have no right to be here and we aren’t going to stop.

“Returns will continue to increase, my Plan for Change will save lives, secure our borders and smash the gangs for good.” 10:50 AM BST Reform accuses Labour of border control ‘failure’ Reform UK accused Labour of a “failure to control illegal migration” as it repeated its pledge to freeze all non-essential immigration if it wins power at the next general election. Lee Anderson, Reform’s chief whip, said: “Labour’s failure to control illegal migration is not just an issue of border security - it is a national crisis.

As the numbers show, we are not receiving the best and brightest in terms of illegal migrants. “No country has benefited from this level of unbridled immigration. It has placed a massive strain on our public services, our safety, and the pockets of our hard-working taxpayers.

“Reform UK will freeze all non-essential immigration, deport foreign criminals, and deport anyone who has illegally entered the country.” 10:36 AM BST Reader poll: Do you trust Starmer to stop small boat crossings? Sir Keir Starmer said this morning he believed “real progress” was being made on combatting people smuggling. But with a record number of people - approximately 6,000 - having arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year, the Prime Minister is under growing pressure to deliver tangible results.

You can have your say on Sir Keir’s handling of the issue in the reader poll below: 10:31 AM BST The immigration numbers Labour wants to talk about Sir Keir Starmer used his opening remarks at today’s summit to announce the Government has returned more than 24,000 individuals with no right to be in the UK since the general election last July. The Government said this represented the highest returns rate for eight years. Between July 2024 and March this year there were 24,103 returns which was the highest nine month period compared to any nine month period since 2017 when there were 25,225 returns between January and September.

Of those 24,000+ returns: There have been 46 charter flights for returns since July last year, going to countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. I wrote about the immigration numbers Labour is not so keen to talk about in the post below at 08.52.

10:12 AM BST Starmer leads round table discussion at illegal immigration summit Sir Keir Starmer has led a round table discussion joined by Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle, Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt and Home Office, Border Force and National Crime Agency officials. He said today’s summit was the biggest ever gathering of countries from different areas of smuggling routes there has ever been on the issue. Sir Keir said “serious problems” require serious solutions and there were “concrete proposals” on the table.

Mr Hewitt added in his six months in post on visits to other countries, the UK is still seen as an attractive country to come to as he praised the Government’s move to close a loophole on right to work checks to crack down on illegal working as “critical”. 10:08 AM BST PM: If you don’t have the right to be in this country, then you shouldn’t be here 10:02 AM BST Italian PM: Courage needed to find illegal immigration solutions Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said she was happy to be supporting collaboration with the UK on tackling illegal immigration in a recorded video played at the summit. She said Italy’s approach with Albania to process claims offshore was first criticised but governments should not be afraid to imagine and build innovative solutions.

“A model that was criticised at first, but that then has gained increasing consensus, so much so that today, European Union is proposing to set up return hubs in third countries,” she said. “This means that we were right and that the courage to lead the way has been rewarded.” 09:56 AM BST Cooper: Standing on our shoreline shouting at the sea won’t stop small boats International cooperation is the key to stopping illegal immigration, the Home Secretary said.

Concluding her remarks at the opening of the Organised Immigration Crime Summit, Yvette Cooper said: “We know that strengthening our border security means working with all the countries on the other sides of our borders, not just standing on our shoreline shouting at the sea. “We know too that no country can do this alone and that is why the partnerships and everyone gathering here is so important so today we will talk about what to do to tackle this vile trade in human beings.” 09:50 AM BST People smuggling gangs using drones to spot border patrols, says Cooper Yvette Cooper said people smuggling gangs are using drones to spot border patrols as she urged countries to work together to “take them down”.

She said: “The way in which the gangs are using new technology, not just the phones, the social media, to organise, but even the drones to spot where the border patrols are, the operations along the land borders across continents. “But it is governments and not gangs who should be deciding who enters our country. Those gangs are operating and profiting across borders, so we and our law enforcement need to cooperate across borders now to take them down.

” 09:47 AM BST Cooper slams ‘vast and ruthless’ people smuggling industry Yvette Cooper said that the challenges presented by immigration are not new but the current scale of people crossing borders is. The Home Secretary told the summit: “But in recent years we have seen new and serious patterns and scales of irregular and illegal migration, causing major challenges for border security, for national security, for the rule of law, and the economy across so many of our countries in source, in transit and in destination countries alike. “Two factors have accelerated and changed some of the challenges our countries face.

First is technology. The physical distances between nations and continents may not have changed but technology has made the world feel a lot smaller.” She added: “And the second factor is the emergence of a vast and ruthless criminal industry that stretches across borders and across continents, worth billions of pounds.

” 09:31 AM BST UK has been soft touch on illegal working for too long, says PM Sir Keir Starmer said the UK had for too long been a “soft touch” on tackling illegal working. He said the Government will introduce a new law to force companies to carry out “right to work” checks. He said: “We have got to be honest here, for too long the UK has been a soft touch on this.

Whilst the last government were busy with their Rwanda gimmick, they left the door wide open for illegal working, especially in short term or zero hours roles. “Whilst most companies do the responsible thing and carry out right to work checks, too many dodgy firms have been exploiting a loophole to skip this process, hiring illegal workers, undercutting honest businesses, driving down the wages of ordinary working people. “All of this of course fuelling that poisonous narrative of the gangs who promise the dream of a better life to vulnerable people yet deliver a nightmare of squalid conditions and appalling exploitation.

“Today we are changing that because this Government is introducing a tough new law to force all companies to carry out these checks on right to work.” 09:27 AM BST Small boats used by people smugglers are ‘death traps’, says Starmer Sir Keir Starmer said people smugglers are making “huge profits out of ruining people’s lives”. He said the vessels being used to make the trip across the English Channel were “not worthy of the name boat” and if they were cars they would be taken off the road by the police within minutes.

“To me they look like death traps,” he said. 09:24 AM BST Starmer promises ‘pragmatic solutions which work’ to tackle small boats All countries need to implement “tough measures at home” to combat illegal immigration, the Prime Minister said. “As we work together more closely I think than ever before we also have to take the tough measures at home in our own countries,” Sir Keir Starmer said.

“That doesn’t mean gimmicks...

it means understanding the problem and coming up with pragmatic solutions which work, actually fixing what is wrong.” Sir Keir claimed that there were “gaps in our defence” when the Tories were in power and those gaps had allowed people smugglers to “crack on”. The Prime Minister said that since Labour took office more than 24,000 people had been returned to their countries of origin.

09:20 AM BST Starmer: ‘Real progress’ being made on tackling people smuggling gangs Sir Keir Starmer repeated his belief that people smugglers must be treated the same as terrorists. The Prime Minister said “real progress” had started to be made in terms of more international collaboration on tackling the issue. He highlighted new bilateral agreements with France and Germany as examples of greater collaboration which he said are “so important to taking this challenge on and it is beginning to bear fruit”.

09:16 AM BST Voters want small boats crisis sorted, says PM Sir Keir Starmer said that “nobody can doubt that the people we serve want this issue sorted” as he addressed the first ever international illegal immigration summit. “But the truth is we can only smash these gangs once and for all if we work together,” he said. The Prime Minister said that back in 2016 he had visited a migrant camp on the outskirts of Calais and he was struck by the number of children “huddled together in freezing temperatures”.

He said that while that camp had gone, the people smuggling gangs remain. “There is nothing progressive or compassionate about turning a blind eye to this,” he said. 09:13 AM BST Illegal immigration makes me angry, says Starmer Sir Keir Starmer said that “illegal migration is a massive driver of global insecurity” as he opened the Organised Immigration Crime Summit in London.

The Prime Minister said: “It undermines our ability to control who comes here and that makes people angry. It makes me angry, frankly. “Because it is unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price, from the cost of hotels, to our public services struggling under the strain.

“And it is unfair on the illegal migrants themselves because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.” The Prime Minister urged countries across the world to take “decisive action”. 08:52 AM BST How many people have arrived in the UK on small boats this year? A record number of people - approximately 6,000 - have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year.

That is higher than the 5,435 who arrived in January, February and March in 2024 – the previous record number for the first quarter of a calendar year and well above the number in the same three months in 2023 and 2022. The Government has blamed the increase on calm weather and people smugglers putting more people into boats. 08:45 AM BST Labour ‘needs time’ to dismantle people smuggling gangs, says minister Ministers are “disappointed” by the number of small boat crossings in recent months, Dame Angela Eagle said.

The Home Office minister said the Government needs “time” to dismantle people smuggling gangs. Speaking to Sky News, the border security and asylum minister was asked whether she was disappointed in the number of crossings. She said: “Of course, we’re disappointed.

Some of that is about having more people per boat, which is also more dangerous and more reckless. “But what we’ve got to do – we’ve been in government for eight months – these people smuggling gangs have been allowed to establish themselves across the Channel and be very sophisticated with their global networks for six years. We are going to dismantle them by working with other people cross-jurisdiction, operationally too.

“But we need time to do that, and we need to have events like this so that we can co-operate together to increase our effectiveness.” 08:28 AM BST Government considering migrant return hubs, says minister The Government is not ruling out an offshoring agreement for asylum processing, a Home Office minister has said. Dame Angela Eagle said ministers are looking at whether “return hubs” could be a good idea.

Asked whether the UK was considering an offshoring agreement similar to that between Italy and Albania, she told Times Radio: “We’re not ruling anything out if it works, so we’re looking at a range of things. “We’re also obviously looking to see what the European Commission is doing in Europe, we’re looking to see whether return hubs might be a good idea. “But at the moment, we’re not in a position to make any kind of announcements on that, but we are very open-minded to see what works.

” 08:22 AM BST Minister: Social media firms must be more proactive in removing people smuggler adverts The Government wants “a bit more proactivity” from social media firms when it comes to removing adverts from people smugglers, a Home Office minister said. Dame Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, told Times Radio that Meta, X and TikTok will be in attendance at today’s immigration summit in London. She said: “What we’re talking to them about – and I’ll be meeting them later on today – is actually taking down the very slick and misleading advertisements that people smugglers use their platforms to disseminate.

” She said the firms already do take them down, but added: “We just want a bit more proactivity from them, because these adverts are very, very misleading. “They sell lies about what will go on here, and often the people that fall for that end up in debt bondage, exploited in a very criminal style economy.” 08:18 AM BST Solving small boats crisis ‘not rocket science’, says Jenrick Robert Jenrick said solving the small boats crisis is “not rocket science”.

The shadow justice secretary claimed Labour had made “all the wrong decisions” on illegal immigration since winning the general election last year. He said the only way to solve the problem was to have an effective deterrent like the Tories’ Rwanda scheme and to set up returns agreements with countries where the migrants are coming from. Mr Jenrick said it was “open season” for small boat crossings under Labour.

“The people smuggling gangs know that if you can get people into this country they will never leave and they will be put up in luxury hotels,” he told GB News. “It is not rocket science, we know what the formula is and we can see that Labour has made all the wrong decisions since they came to power.” 08:14 AM BST Pictured: Yvette Cooper welcomes Swedish justice minister to summit 08:08 AM BST Jenrick: Migration summit is nothing more than ‘a talking shop’ Labour’s international illegal immigration summit is nothing more than a “talking shop”, according to Robert Jenrick.

The shadow justice secretary told GB News he doubted the gathering of nations would achieve “anything at all”. He said: “It sounds like a talking shop to me. The facts are clear.

The numbers of people coming across on small boats has risen by 31 per cent since Labour came to power. “Just in the last week alone, 4,000 illegal migrants have broken into our country. “Labour has lost control of the borders and frankly I don’t think they want to control them or else they wouldn’t have scrapped the Rwanda deterrent.

Today’s meeting I doubt will achieve anything at all.” 08:06 AM BST Starmer holds first-of-its-kind international illegal immigration summit Sir Keir Starmer is hosting an international illegal immigration summit in London today when he will call on the 40 countries attending to work together to stop people-smuggling gangs in the same way they would terrorists. The Prime Minister is hoping the summit will accelerate his efforts to stop the boats but the Tories have rejected the idea that it will deliver real change.

Nations attending include Albania, Vietnam and Iraq – countries from which migrants have travelled to the UK – as well as representatives from France, the US and China. Ministers and enforcement staff will discuss international co-operation on illegal migration, as well as supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for people smuggling during the meeting. I will guide you through the key developments.

.