Yet another quango

Labour has stepped up its efforts to convince the British public that it has a plan to stop the boats. In a speech yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer said he would not hesitate to scrap the Rwanda “gimmick”, diverting funds towards a new Border Security Command tasked with cracking down on people smugglers.

Though Sir Keir’s timing may have been opportune – with new figures showing 2024 arrivals by small boat are already at 9,000, putting them on track for a record year – his security-based approach of smashing trafficking gangs with tougher law enforcement has been tried before. In 2020, the then home secretary Priti Patel appointed a clandestine Channel threat commander to strengthen enforcement measures. Last year, the Government created a Small Boats Operational Command, a unit of Border Force officers who would work with the military to halt crossings. Yet the sheer volume of arrivals lays bare the flaws in this approach.

What will another new quango achieve? History has shown that, all too often, they allow ministers to shift responsibility on to unaccountable officials and deflect criticism.

The Labour leader is right that “turning a blind eye” to the boats crisis is the “opposite of a compassionate position”.

But his refusal this week to give a target for reducing crossings, hostility towards the Rwanda scheme, and previous enthusiasm for an EU-wide returns deal for asylum seekers, which could see overall numbers increase, will not reassure voters that he intends to match tough words with robust action.