Starmer lacks the guts to stop illegal migrant avalanche

LABOUR came to power last summer on a wave of discontent with the Tories for failing to get a grip on sky-high migration.

- Tim Newark

Now Labour is proving to be worse, having reached the shameful milestone of 50,000 illegal migrants within 401 days of being in power — the same figure took 603 days under Rishi Sunak’s premiership.

Smashing the gangs was always empty rhetoric; the cross-Channel trade is so lucrative that another smuggling group will quickly take their place, especially when so-called asylum seekers are willing to pay thousands of pounds to risk the crossing.

Still, if you get into the UK, any illegal migrants will receive thousands more in free accommodation, food, clothing and black-market work.

Labour does not appear to understand the concept of meaningful deterrence. French President Emmanuel Macron is right to castigate Britain for its “pull” factor of easy benefits and generous welcome funded by taxpayers and charities.

Having already spent £700million on the Rwanda scheme, you would have thought any sensible successor government would have given it a go, as anecdotal evidence suggested it was already having a discouraging impact in French migrant camps.