![\"EPA](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/3e05\/live\/cd8f5010-0df7-11f0-adb0-953662d344b5.jpg.webp\")
EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nPeople smugglers have exploited “fragmented” policing, border force and intelligence agencies to smuggle thousands of illegal migrants into the UK, the prime minister has said.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer said poor organisation had meant the UK was “a soft touch” on illegal migration, which smugglers took as an “open invitation”.<\/p>\n
The prime minister made the case for tackling illegal migration like terrorism as he spoke at the first ever Organised Immigration Crime Summit in London – attended by more than 40 countries alongside tech giants like Meta, X and TikTok.<\/p>\n
The Conservatives said the conference “will make no difference” and only Rwanda-style deportations would stop illegal migration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Sir Keir is keen for the UK to be seen as leading the global response to illegal migration – a key issue for the government politically, with both the Conservatives and Reform UK accusing Labour of failing to get a grip on the issue.<\/p>\n
Since winning the election in 2024, Sir Keir has pushed for treating illegal migration like terrorism, with increased cooperation across countries and enhanced police powers.<\/p>\n
The government has announced a series of agreements with other countries in an effort to tackle the number of illegal migrants entering the UK.<\/p>\n
But more than 6,000 people have crossed the Channel so far in 2025, making it a record start to a year for small boat arrivals.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir said joint cross-border criminal investigations involving UK authorities were “beginning to bear fruit”.<\/p>\n
Since July, the government said more than 24,000 individuals with no right to be in the UK had been deported.<\/p>\n
Launching a two-day summit at Lancaster House, the prime minister said he was “angry” about the scale of illegal migration.<\/p>\n
“It makes me angry, frankly, because it’s unfair on ordinary working people who pay the price – from the cost of hotels, to our public services struggling under the strain,” he said.<\/p>\n
Illegal migration was also “a massive driver of global insecurity” which “undermines our ability to control who comes here”, Sir Keir said.<\/p>\n
“And it’s unfair on the illegal migrants themselves, because these are vulnerable people being ruthlessly exploited by vile gangs.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Officials from Vietnam, Albania and Iraq – countries from which many migrants have travelled to the UK – attended the summit at London’s Lancaster House, alongside French, Chinese and US representatives.<\/p>\n
Representatives from social media companies Meta, X and TikTok also joined, alongside Kurdish leaders and Interpol to take part in discussions on how to disrupt a criminal trade worth an estimated $10bn (\u00a37.7bn) a year. <\/p>\n
Sir Keir told attendees: “There has never been a bigger gathering of people on this issue, building a truly international effort to defeat organised immigration crime.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Labour campaigned on a promise to scrap the previous government’s plan to send some migrants to Rwanda.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Sir Keir blamed the Conservatives for pursuing the scheme, while smugglers slipped through the cracks in services.<\/p>\n
“We inherited this total fragmentation between our policing, our Border Force and our intelligence agencies,” Sir Keir said.<\/p>\n
“A fragmentation that made it crystal clear, when I looked at it, that there were gaps in our defence, an open invitation at our borders for the people smugglers to crack on.<\/p>\n
“To be honest, it should have been fixed years ago.”<\/p>\n
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Sir Keir’s immigration plans “already lie in tatters”. <\/p>\n
He said: “We are about to see 30,000 illegal channel crossings since the election reached this week, a 31% increase.<\/p>\n
“This year so far has been the worst on record.”<\/p>\n
The spike in channel crossings was “a direct consequence of the government cancelling the Rwanda deterrent before it even started,” Philp said.<\/p>\n
“Today’s conference will make no difference,” he added.<\/p>\n
“Law enforcement alone cannot stop illegal immigration – you need a removals deterrent.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ahead of the summit, the Home Office announced that \u00a333m would be spent to disrupt people-smuggling networks and boost prosecutions. <\/p>\n
Among developments aimed at tackling illegal migration ahead of the gathering:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \u00a330m of funding for the Border Security Command will be used to tackle supply chains, finance and trafficking routes across Europe, the Balkans, Asia and Africa. A further \u00a33m will help the Crown Prosecution Service increase its ability to deal with cases, the government said<\/li>\n
- The government is expanding right-to-work checks to cover gig economy workers by making amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill<\/li>\n
- Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signalled she wanted to crack down on the number of people who had arrived in the UK on a student or work visa and had gone on to claim asylum<\/li>\n
- The government is reviewing how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, applies to migration cases, Cooper said<\/li>\n
- Some \u00a31m in UK funding will go towards strengthened efforts to root out people-smuggling kingpins in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the Home Office announced<\/li>\n
- The UK has launched an advertising campaign on Vietnamese social media and messenger app Zalo, warning people about trusting people-smuggling gangs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
On Sunday, Tory shadow minister Alex Burghart told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that Labour should never have scrapped the Rwanda deportation plan.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Thin,](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/a88c\/live\/e6987280-0d84-11f0-ac9f-c37d6fd89579.png.webp\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n