Home Secretary chairs summit aimed at 'dismantling' small boats criminal gangs
The home secretary says the government is 'determined' to go after the criminal gangs who smuggle migrants across the Channel in small boats, as ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton reports
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has chaired a summit aimed at "dismantling" the criminal gangs involved in smuggling people over the English Channel in small boats.
She led a meeting of senior ministers and figures from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and intelligence services on Friday.
The meeting followed the deaths of at least 12 people who attempted to cross the channel on Tuesday, in what has been described as the deadliest crossing tragedy of the year so far.
Their boat was “ripped apart” and sank off the northern French coast of Cap Gris-Nez, and crossings have continued in the following days.
Speaking to ITV News ahead of the meeting, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said the day-to-day of gangs needs disrupting.
'It isn't right that people smuggling gangs or criminals decide who comes to our country rather than people at the border,' Dame Angela Eagle told ITV News
Dame Angela said: "It is clear that more people are going into boats, and the boats are becoming even more unseaworthy than they were.
"This terrible that happened earlier this week, only eight of the people on board had any kind of lifejacket. Asking people to go across one of the busiest ship lanes in the world with no equipment in a flimsy boat is asking for trouble.
"It is important that we disrupt what is happening because it isn't right that people smuggling gangs or criminals decide who comes to our country rather than people at the border."
Ahead of the meeting, Cooper said that exploiting vulnerable people is "at the heart of the business model of these despicable criminal smuggling gangs".
“Women and children were packed into an unsafe boat which literally collapsed in the water this week. At least 12 people were killed as part of this evil trade. We will not rest until these networks have been dismantled and brought to justice,” she said.
The home secretary was joined at NCA headquarters in London by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Attorney General Lord Hermer, as well as representatives from the NCA, Border Force and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Representatives from the intelligence community were also present, who have been helping the NCA penetrate and dismantle the smuggling gangs.
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Cooper said there had been "encouraging progress" in the last two months, "with significant seizures" of boats and equipment in Europe.
“But there is work to do, and the Border Security Command will bring all the relevant bodies together to investigate, arrest and prosecute these networks, as well as deepen our ties with key international partners.
“At the same time, we are swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK, which will ensure we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced.”
An analysis commissioned by the home secretary which dives into the gangs’ capability was examined at the summit.
It also considered closer collaboration with European agencies, such as Europol, and advancing the new Border Security Command.
The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 21,977 - 3% higher than at this point last year, when the total stood at 21,372, but 20% lower than at this stage in 2022, when the total was 27,409.
There have been 2,683 arrivals in the past nine days, from August 27 to September 4 inclusive - the highest in any nine-day period so far this year.
Across the whole of 2023, there were 29,437 arrivals - down 36% on a record 45,774 in 2022.
More than 30 people have now died in Channel crossings so far this year, compared with 12 who are thought to have died or were recorded as missing in 2023, according to the French coastguard.
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