Labour would need a deal with the Taliban to make their migration ‘plan’ work

The more Labour talk about how they would tackle immigration, the clearer it is that their pitch is a total sham. They can pretend, but it’s obvious they have no plan.

When Sir Keir Starmer set out his five “missions” last year, he showed how much he cared about the security of our borders by not mentioning it at all. Not a word.

Meanwhile, this Conservative Government has been relentlessly focused on stopping the boats, breaking the criminal smuggling gangs and expanding strong cooperation with international partners, especially France, and with Rwanda.

We are, right now, preparing to send a regular rhythm of migrant flights, having secured the legislation for that in the teeth of Labour opposition.

Now Labour have suddenly come up with one idea. Just one – a Small Boats Operational Command run by a former military chief to direct work across key intelligence and enforcement agencies to protect our borders.

The flaw in Labour making this their one idea is that it’s our idea, and it’s already up and running. Labour are really taking the British people for fools.

Despite clear evidence from political parties and 19 governments in Europe, who are asking for third-party safe destination country solutions similar to our Rwanda partnership, Labour vow to scrap it “even if it works”, and instead want some deal with the EU that would see us take even more migrants.

Despite the Irish Government saying migrants had come to the Republic to avoid being sent to Rwanda, and recent examples across the media of migrants from different countries explaining they want to leave the UK or not try to come at all because they see our Rwanda plan become a reality, Labour are right now throwing away the only deterrent that is in play.

Despite it being clear to everyone but Labour that, without Rwanda, they have absolutely nowhere to send those from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and anyone whose home country is unsafe, they’re determined to stop the flights, not the boats.

Despite the fact that, to solve that self-inflicted problem, they’d have to negotiate “returns agreements” with the Taliban, Assad and the ayatollahs, Labour dodge this question.

Despite the fact that, by scrapping Rwanda, Labour are embracing the costs of keeping people in the UK indefinitely – an overall bill that will rise to £11 billion a year unless you can remove people – Labour would still scrap it.

The only people secretly cheering Labour’s stance are the people smugglers, because Labour are saying that if you get here we have nowhere to return you to, and boasting they’ll remove the only thing that was making migrants think twice about putting their lives in the hands of violent criminals who don’t care if they die.

Which is an irony because, when you look at the whole range of things this Government is doing to tackle these criminal gangs, Labour chose to be left with one lonely idea to tackle immigration. It’s a good idea. It’s just not their idea, and it already exists.

Our Small Boats Operational Command is staffed by the very specialists Sir Keir boasts will fill his new unit. It’s run by a former major general, and it does exactly what he claims his new unit will do. He wants to convince people it is different. It really isn’t.

However, I will never ask those who keep us safe from terrorism, espionage and state threats to take their eyes off those vital jobs for a moment, and certainly not for a stump speech bullet point.

So why is their pitch so thin? Labour have always been squeamish about tackling immigration. They can’t make the difficult choices. They don’t like actions that might make them feel or look bad. They are more comfortable with a younger Sir Keir, who once branded any measures to tackle immigration “racist”.

Our plan is to stop the boats and to stop people, including children, drowning in the Channel. It is the right thing to do.

To do that, you need a deterrent – and we Conservatives have one. You need a destination to send people to. We delivered one. And yes, you need a team of specialists working to break the business model of the gangs. We Conservatives created it.

Labour can’t be trusted to tackle illegal migration, because they have no plan to do it.

James Cleverly is the Home Secretary