3 days Ago By Jack Maidment
Yvette Cooper was unable to say when Labour’s plan to stop small boat migrant Channel crossings will start to work. The Home Secretary said she wanted to make progress “as fast as possible” but she would not set a target date for crossing numbers to fall. It came as Sir Keir Starmer meets with Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, in Rome today to discuss how best to tackle illegal migration.
Labour has set up a new Border Security Command unit tasked with “smashing” people smuggling gangs. Asked when crossing numbers would fall, Ms Cooper told BBC Breakfast: “We need to make progress as fast as possible because no one should be making these dangerous boat crossings. But look, this is hard graft and this is going to be step by step , pursuing the investigations, going after the [small boat] engines.
..” Asked again if she could set out a target date, she said: “We need to keep making progress and we want to go as fast as we possibly can because nobody should be making these dangerous boat crossings.
” Pushed once more, Ms Cooper said that “nobody wants to see any boat crossings”. You can follow the latest updates below and join the conversation in the comments section . Sir Keir Starmer told Italian business leaders the new UK Government is taking “the difficult decisions early” on the economy to create the conditions for more foreign investment.
Speaking to representatives of companies at a breakfast meeting at the Villa Wolkonsky, the Rome home of the British ambassador to Italy, the Prime Minister said he wanted a “low-friction relationship in terms of business”, adding: “The relationship between Italy and the UK is a good, strong, historic relationship. We are very close allies, obviously partners in the G7, partners in Nato, very strong bilateral relations. “And I’m looking forward to seeing the prime minister [Giorgia Meloni] later on today.
” Sir Keir said the Government’s “top priority” is growth and wealth creation, which is “why we put so much focus on economic stability, making sure that we create conditions for you to be partners, to invest.” He added: “You will be familiar with this in your businesses, if you’re turning around business, if you’re turning around the company, and you know there are difficult decisions to make, it’s better to do them early on.” Sir Keir said his administration is “absolutely going to tackle issues like planning, which is holding up a lot of projects in the UK,” adding: “We want to make sure that this is a low-friction relationship in terms of business.
” Yvette Cooper said people smuggling gangs running migrant Channel crossings were likely to have made millions of pounds over the past weekend. The Home Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “There has been some progress made so over the summer there has been lower levels of boat crossings during the summer than last summer. “But that is no comfort when there are still lives being lost and we are still seeing these criminal gangs, they probably made millions of pounds this weekend alone.
“That is a total disgrace and they are getting away with it and that is why we have got go after them.” A criminal industry is operating along the UK’s borders and people smuggling gangs have been able to “get away with it” for too long, Yvette Cooper said this morning. Asked why Labour’s plan to reduce migrant Channel crossings will succeed where other attempts have failed, the Home Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “We have got to take practical steps.
We know that this is all being driven by what has become now a criminal industry, effectively, running along our borders. “That is deeply damaging and those criminal gangs have been able to get away with it. There really hasn’t been serious coordinated law enforcement involving countries right across Europe, all the way along the way in which the boats are being brought in, the way in which the engines are being put together.
“Coordinating right along the way that the criminal gangs operate. That has not been done before. “We have seen, however, some progress by other countries, so the Prime Minister and Martin Hewitt the new [Border Security Command] commander are in Italy today and talking to the Italian government.
There has been progress there is reducing the number of boats croissant the Mediterranean and some of the things that they have been looking at have been working with north African countries and also going after the criminal gangs as well.” Yvette Cooper was unable to say when Labour’s plan to stop small boat migrant Channel crossings will start to work. Asked when crossing numbers would fall, the Home Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “We need to make progress as fast as possible because no one should be making these dangerous boat crossings.
But look, this is hard graft and this is going to be step by step , pursuing the investigations, going after the [small boat] engines...
” Asked again if she could set out a target date, she said: “We need to keep making progress and we want to go as fast as we possibly can because nobody should be making these dangerous boat crossings.” Pushed once more, Ms Cooper said that “nobody wants to see any boat crossings”. Her comments came as Sir Keir Starmer meets with Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, in Rome today to discuss how best to tackle illegal migration.
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