‘The border bill and immigration raids show Labour is taking back control’

Voters want the Labour Government to take back control of our borders – and that’s exactly what we’re doing with our plan for change.

I am proud of our country’s willingness to give people fleeing persecution and abuse the right to start a new life here and contribute to our community. But the system must be fair and it must be controlled.

When the Tories lost control of our borders, it risked lives, undermined our national security, and meant millions were being spent unnecessarily when our public services were on their knees. But instead of engaging with the actual problem, the Tories thought they could get away with simply dialling up the rhetoric. Their strategy was to distract the British public with sound and fury, to take them for fools.

Reform are following the same playbook. Furious words which will simply crumple when met with the reality of government. Furious words with no substance which will fuel anger, not solve the problem.

‘No expensive gimmicks or empty words – just tackling the problem head on’

We need to make something clear: this Labour government is not going down that well-trodden path to failure. We know that it’s not what the people of this country want, and they made that very clear in July last year. Instead of expensive gimmicks and empty words, we’re tackling the problem head on.

While the Tories picked fights with France, we are building the relationships we need to regain control of our asylum system. We have made landmark deals with Germany and Iraq, signed the G7 anti-smuggling plan aimed at targeting criminal smuggling gangs and hosted the Calais Group in London. We know that collaboration and intelligence sharing is key.

While the Conservatives spent nearly £9m a day on hotels, we have got our asylum system moving again and we are on track to save the taxpayer £4bn over the next two years. We’ve increased asylum decision making tenfold to clear the backlog.

And while the Conservatives chose to pursue the farcical £700m Rwanda scheme which sent just four volunteers to Rwanda, we’ve been getting on with the job of returning people who have no right to be here. This government has already sent 32 bespoke charter flights to return migrants across the world, enforced returns are up 24 percent on the year before the election, and our streets have been made safer with the removal of 2,500 foreign criminals.

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And we’ve only just got started. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill before the House of Commons today is creating new counter terror-style offences so we can use every tool possible to dismantle the vile criminal gangs who operate small boats crossings. We’re giving the enforcement agencies the powers they need to seize devices, check biometrics and share data – and we are boosting the role of our new border security commander.

We are systematically dismantling the gangs to stop the boats getting in the water. We are building the relationships we need to regain control. We have turbocharged our asylum system to get on with the job of returning people with no right to be here – and to allow those granted asylum to work and contribute to our country.

That’s a real plan. Not empty rhetoric from the Tories or Reform, but an intelligence-led, grown-up approach to border security. Whether it is chaos at the border or the crisis in our public services, this government will not accept bluster and we will not accept failure. Our plan for change will fix the foundations and deliver the change we promised. We know the British people deserve no less.

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