SHADOW Treasury Minister Richard Fuller has said that the government slacks a plan to deter people from crossing the Channel illegally in small boats.
He told GB News: “The big worry is the Labour government doesn’t have any plan [for] a realistic deterrence for people crossing the Channel and getting into this country illegally. And the answer that was already on paper for them. It was there as part of legislation, which was the Rwanda scheme.
“People who come through across the channel should never have the right to live in the UK. That’s the wrong policy. That’s the wrong approach, and the Rwanda scheme was the way to stop that happening.
Asked about the Transport Secretary saying that the Conservatives lacked faith in their Rwanda scheme, he said: “I’m afraid Heidi Alexander doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
“It’s interesting, isn’t it, that she didn’t dispute what the figures are showing. And so the big question is, why did the new Labour government get rid of the one thing that was demonstrating that was a proven deterrent for people going across the Channel?
“Why is it this government is not taking more robust action, trying to persuade the French, or taking actions that will encourage the French to be more proactive on the French coastline as well?”
He added: “The first thing is, the Labour government should bring back the Rwanda scheme, but let’s not hold out hope for that. So what can we do in the meantime?
“Well, what good thing we could do is get the performance of the French border patrol up to the standards of the Belgians, which do a pretty good job of stopping crossings. And the way to do that, perhaps, is to pause any negotiation with the French over the changes on the fishing rights, that seems to be what the French worry about.
“The problem is that when it comes to any deal, this Prime Minister is a very, very poor negotiator. He won’t play hardball. I think he should play hardball.
“There’s a way that he could do something to make up for some of the loss that he’s created in terms of deterrence by getting rid of the Rwanda scheme.
“The Belgians are stopping them coming into the UK. And so it’s more about the approach and the attitude of law enforcement in other countries compared to the attitude of law enforcement in France.
“You’ve heard about the hundreds of millions of pounds the British taxpayers have put into French policing, because obviously there’s a shared issue here. It’s just we’re not getting any bang for our buck from the French, and so we need to try and encourage the French government to take this issue more seriously.
“It’s causing us major problems, the French are trying to negotiate changes on fishing rights. That’s a tool that a good negotiator would say hold on a minute, French government, we’ve got concerns. We’re going to pause the discussions about fishing rights until you start being more proactive in stopping channel crossings.
“That isn’t the ideal answer. The best answer is to bring back the Rwanda scheme. But I don’t think Keir Starmer is going to do that.”
