'Smash the gangs' Securing borders or just a slogan?

The British government is desperate to show it is preventing small boat crossings, but its PR-heavy approach may cause more problems with voters than it solves

- By Amelia Gentleman

At 5.30am last Tuesday, six immigration enforcement officers and journalists gathered in a deserted car park near Sheffield's railway station, waiting in the rain for a call from London that would trigger simultaneous arrests of suspected people-smugglers in six towns.

Forty minutes later, the Home Office staff drove in convoy to a nearby residential block (followed by a BBC TV crew and the Guardian) and made their way up the stairs carrying a red battering ram, ready to smash the suspect's door down. The equipment wasn't needed, because the man, barefoot in his checked pyjamas, opened the door and let the team inside.

He was given a few moments to get dressed before being taken silently in handcuffs to the van outside, sweat running down his face.

Footage of the wider operation was broadcast that night on the BBC and ITV's News at 10, with the security minister, Dan Jarvis, in Cheltenham, wearing a black immigration enforcement stab vest and observing another of the six linked arrests.

Keir Starmer posted photographs of the raids on X, announcing tersely: “When I said we would smash the people-smuggling gangs, I meant it.”

It was useful positive messaging, facilitated by the Home Office press office in a week when ministers have been confronted with uncomfortable evidence their efforts to prevent small boats arriving are flailing as spectacularly as the previous government's.

On 31 May, 1,195 people arrived in the UK on 19 small boats, the highest number this year, bringing the provisional total for 2025 to 14,811; 42% higher than at the same point last year (10,448) and 95% up from 2023 (7,610).

The defence secretary, John Healey, said Britain had “lost control of its borders over the last five years”.

The Home Office tried to explain the rising numbers by releasing figures showing that the number of “red days” - when weather conditions are favourable for small boat crossings - peaked in 2024-25.