OPINION
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp near the White Cliffs of Dover (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
I went out with The Express on the English Channel this week on the day Labour’s migrant deal started to see for myself if it had made any difference. Within just 30 minutes of arriving off the French coast I saw two dinghies rammed full of illegal immigrants being ushered by into UK waters. The deal was clearly having no deterrent effect whatsoever on the brazen illegal immigrants – almost all of whom were young men. The French ships nearby did nothing to stop the crossings, and in fact ushered the huge dinghies towards UK waters.
And it got worse. At the handover to UK Border Force, who then taxied the illegal immigrants into Dover, we caught the French captain on the ship radio arranging to collect used life jackets - apparently to recycle them to help future illegal immigrants. The people-smuggling conveyor belt is now a round trip, paid for by British taxpayers. Labour’s migrant deal with France is in shambles and it has already been proven to have no deterrent effect whatsoever.
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Clause after clause in the deal provides get-outs to allow migrants to avoid removal – by claiming to be under 18, or by lodging made up modern slavery or human rights claims. It’s likely that attempts to return migrants will become bogged down in an endless legal quagmire. There are also no numbers in the deal – but reporting suggests that only 50 migrants a week will ever get removed.
Based on arrival numbers so far this year, that means that only 6% of illegal immigrants will be removed and 94% will stay in the UK. That will obviously not deter anyone. A truly absurd part is that the British taxpayer is footing the bill for all this. We may see a handful of staged removals for the cameras, while the real numbers keep climbing.
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The Labour government thinks the British people can’t see any of this. But the public are not fools. The facts speak for themselves – over 25,000 people have crossed the Channel illegally so far this year, making it the worst year on record, and more than 48,000 since Labour took office. Labour has chosen managed failure – and their failure on illegal immigration is the most blatant of the Prime Minister’s seemingly endless blunders.
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The difference is now stark. Only the Conservatives, under new leadership, have a real plan in in our Deportation Bill. We will deport all illegal arrivals, which is the only way to end the pull factor and will send the message that if you cross the Channel illegally, you will not be allowed to stay. No ifs, no buts.
We are also taking on the legal machinery that has enabled this erosion of national authority. The European Convention on Human Rights was meant to uphold democratic values. But in practice, it is now being used to block deportations even in cases involving convicted sex offenders, gang members, and violent criminals.
Our Lawfare Commission will examine how to restore legal sovereignty and what the next steps should be. If leaving the ECHR is necessary to regain control, then that path must be mapped clearly and responsibly. The question is no longer whether there is a problem, it is what a sovereign government is willing to do to fix it.
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POLL: Should Keir Starmer drag migrant boats back to France?
TalkTV erupts into ‘ludicrous' migrant row: 'They're getting credit cards!'
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Migrants try to board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The choice is now unavoidable. Labour has abandoned border control in favour of political convenience, Reform has no deliverable plan, only the Conservatives are prepared to take the decisions that will deliver a working immigration system and end illegal Channel crossings.
We do not accept that Britain should remain stuck in this cycle of chaos. We are ready to act, and we will not be deterred by those who seek to block progress at every stage. The public can see what is happening and they will judge us all by whether we confront it or collapse before it.
We will not let anything stand in our way of removing anyone with no right to be here.
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