Starmer: We will tackle people smuggling gangs in same way we dealt with rioters

Keir Starmer has vowed to break up people-smuggling gangs in the same manner used to apprehend and jail hundreds of rioters this summer.

- Rajeev Syal

After a meeting yesterday with law enforcement agencies and cabinet ministers on plans to stop small boats crossing the Channel, the prime minister said that the "high-level summit" mirrored the approach taken after the far-right disorder.

"We sat round the table with law enforcement and the police to make sure that we got the desired outcome and made sure we could deliver - in that case swift justice.

"I'm absolutely determined to take the same approach here, active government, an operational summit, making sure that we are going to retake control of our borders, take these gangs down," he said.