Top Labour minister Dame Angela Eagle made the astonishing claim that voters don’t want to know when her government will put an end to illegal migrant crossings.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, Dame Angela was asked to specify a date by when Brits could expect to see Labour achieve its policy of ‘smashing the gangs’.
The Home Office minister insisted it will take time, and ending small boat crossings of the Channel is a “priority”.
However when pressed for a timetable Dame Angela hit out: “I’m not going to sit here and give you a date!”
“We’ve had governments that have given you dates and figures about getting immigration down to the tens of thousands, and then quadrupled it.
“So I don’t think that people want a date snatched out the air that nobody is confident they can meet.
“What they want is to see steady regular progress and that’s what we’re going to give them.”
However host Trevor Phillips pointed out that the government is more than happy to announce targets and deadlines for other policies, with the notable exception of migration.
The refusal to set out Labour’s plans comes after Britain saw a record-breaking day of migrant crossings on Thursday.
A whopping 609 migrants crossed in small boats three days ago, the highest ever number for the winter months since the crisis began.
The Conservative’s shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the number represented a “day of shame for Labour”.
He slammed: “The huge number of illegal crossings shows Labour is failing to tackle small boats.
“They cancelled the Rwanda deterrent before even started. If they had allowed those Rwanda flights to start as planned in July, illegal immigrants would not bother attempting to cross.
“Labour is shamefully failing us on illegal immigration and leaving our borders undefended. Since the election, crossings are up 18% compared to the same time last year, whereas in 2023 Conservatives got the numbers down by a third. 21,000 have illegally entered the country since the election – shaming Labour”
Trevor Phillips observed: “What happened to ‘smashing the gangs’? They seem resolutely un-smashed!”
Dame Angela argued that the record-breaking number of crossings on Thursday was in fact a result of a succession of days with zero crossings.
She argued: “That was partially because we had nine days with no arrivals. What happens when you have an industrialised people smuggling gang-related issue going on at the borders is there gets to be pent up demand when you can’t cross, and then when there comes a day its likely that you can you’re likely to get more than you normally would.”
“This is just why we have to tackle the gangs.”
