Keir Starmer is reportedly plotting a tougher crackdown on migrants crossing the English Channel in a bid to see off the growing threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Labour is at risk of losing the next general election if the Government doesn’t succeed in stopping asylum seekers arriving on Britain’s shores by small boat from France, according to a senior party figure.
The unnamed source told Bloomberg that ministers will have to look at how the European Convention on Human Rights is applied in asylum cases. They said the outcome of such a consideration would have to ensure the UK can deport illegal migrants and foreign criminals. An immigration white paper due to be published in the weeks ahead will show Labour’s immigration policy is the most robust out of recent governments, according to the source.
Efforts on such a policy are said to predate the local elections on Thursday (May 1), but will no doubt see fresh impetus after Reform UK made major gains, picking up 10 councils and more than 600 seats.
Mr Farage’s party also snatched Runcorn and Helsby from Labour, winning by just six votes and setting a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of World War 2.
This week saw the number of migrants crossing the English Channel so far this year reach 11,000, only days after arrivals passed 10,000.
A triumphant Mr Farage claimed the election results signalled the end of Britain’s “two-party politics” and Reform UK was now the main opposition party. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister showed no sign of changing course, saying he would go “further and faster” with his plans.
The Conservatives faced a Reform UK surge in the North and parts of the Midlands while the Lib Dems put the squeeze on their vote further south, gaining more than 100 councillors.
Thursday’s results have put both Sir Keir and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch under pressure to reverse their parties’ fortunes. But if the Government pursues a greater crackdown on migrants, the approach risks further alienating Labour from its left-wing base.
Sir Keir, writing in The Times, insisted there was “tangible proof” that overall “things are finally beginning to go in the right direction”. He also admitted he wasn’t satisfied with where the country is.
He said: “I am acutely aware that people aren’t yet feeling the benefits. That’s what they told us last night (Thursday). Until they do, I will wake up every morning determined to go further and faster.”
The Prime Minister signalled his priorities as he pledged to deliver “more money in your pocket, lower NHS waiting lists, lower immigration numbers”
Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck, who has represented South Shields since 2013, said a “change of plan” was needed and it was “tone deaf” to repeat that the Government will keep moving “further and faster”.
Brian Leishman, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said the Government’s first 10 months “haven’t been good enough or what the people want”. He warned the next government will be “an extreme right-wing one” if people’s living standards don’t improve.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell said her party has “special responsibilities” to serve the needs of people and the Government should scrap winter fuel and welfare policies which she said were pushing voters away.
