Ex-border pressure chief reveals Starmer’s ‘biggest mistake’ on migrant disaster | Politics | News | EUROtoday

The former head of the UK’s Border Force has revealed Sir Keir Starmer’s “biggest mistake” on tackling unlawful immigration since getting into Number 10. The Prime Minister pledged to “smash the gangs” smuggling folks into the nation, however has didn’t get an actual grip on the small boat crossings within the English Channel.

In 2025, 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats — the second-highest annual whole on file — and 570 have arrived within the UK within the final seven days as much as Saturday, official figures present. Tony Smith, former director common of Border Force, stated a big variety of migrants will proceed to make the treacherous journey except Labour toughens its stance on asylum and human rights claims. He credited Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for placing ahead plans to attempt to deter migrants from trying to succeed in the UK, however recognized Labour’s scrapping of the Conservatives’ flagship Rwanda deportation scheme as an error.

“In my view, the biggest mistake we’ve made is abolishing the Rwanda plan,” he told GB News.

The controversial plan had faced legal challenges since it was announced in 2022 and it was eventually ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court in 2023.

The Tories went on to sign a fresh deportation treaty with the Rwandan government in a bid to address the concerns of the court, with then-PM Rishi Sunak later insisting flights to the east African nation would take off after the 2024 General Election which Labour won.

On his first full day in office, Sir Keir said the scheme was “dead and buried”.

Mr Smith said: “Well, the primary mistake was not making the Rwanda plan within the Illegal Migration Act robust sufficient within the first place to allow us to beat authorized challenges, significantly within the subject of human rights.

“As you know, the last Government marched us up towards the top of the hill.

“We by no means fairly acquired there, however my coronary heart sank once I heard that Keir Starmer was advocating the rapid abolishing of the Rwanda plan.

“I assumed that was our greatest hope.”

Senior Conservatives proceed to insist the Rwanda plan would have labored.

In August final yr, chief Kemi Badenoch stated: “If Keir Starmer was serious about controlling our borders he wouldn’t have scrapped the Rwanda scheme.”

The former Tory authorities had already spent some £700 million on the deportation plan below which migrants who arrived within the UK by boat from France could be despatched to Kigali in a bid to discourage Channel crossings.

But simply 4 volunteers finally arrived in Rwanda earlier than the plan was scrapped.

Rwanda is suing Britain for greater than £100 million, claiming it breached the phrases of its settlement and is owed the cash.