Starmer to pledge extra £75m on plan to stop small boat crossings

Plans to tackle the "national security threat" of people smugglers will receive an extra £75m and a new team of detectives, Keir Starmer will announce today, in the latest move to curb people from crossing the Channel in small boats.

- Rajeev Syal

The prime minister is expected to address irregular migration at two events this week amid concern within No 10 that the government must offer a viable alternative to the Conservatives' defunct Rwanda scheme.

In a speech at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow today, he will say that the government will double funding to £150m for the Border Security Command, the enforcement agency launched by the Labour government this summer.

The money will be used to fund hi-tech surveillance equipment and 100 specialist investigators who will target criminals engaged in people smuggling, he will say.

He will tell dignitaries and senior police from nearly 200 countries that the international community must tackle people smuggling gangs with the same tactics used to stop terrorism.

"The world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge. I was elected to deliver security for the British people. And strong borders are a part of that. But security doesn't stop at our borders," he will say.