Keir Starmer to call for countries to unite to eradicate ‘vile trade' people smuggling at summit

Independent

31-03-2025

The UK and other countries affected by people smuggling must not allow the "vile trade" to pit them against one another, the Prime Minister will tell a summit aimed at cracking down on illegal migration.
Sir Keir Starmer will call on the 40 countries that are gathering in London on Monday and Tuesday to work together to stop people-smuggling gangs in the same way they would terrorists.
Countries including Albania, Vietnam and Iraq - from where migrants have travelled the UK - will join the talks, which are the first of their kind, alongside representatives from France, the US and China.
Ministers and enforcement staff will discuss international co-operation on illegal migration, as well as supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for people smuggling during the meeting.
Officials from social media companies Meta, X and TikTok will also join discussions on how to crack down on the online promotion of irregular migration.
Sir Keir is expected to call for unity among the nations involved when he addresses the summit on Monday afternoon.
"This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions, pits nations against one another and profits from our inability at the political level to come together," he will say.
The Prime Minister will point to his time working across borders to foil terrorists when he was director of public prosecutions.
He will add: "I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the same way.
"I simply do not believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled. We've got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people-smuggling routes."
The summit will deliver "concrete outcomes" for nations in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and North America, according to the Home Office.
Developments aimed at tackling illegal migration ahead of the gathering include:
- The Government will expand right-to-work checks to cover gig economy workers by making amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Businesses that do not carry out the checks could be fined up to £60,000, or face closures, director disqualifications, and even up to five years in prison.
- Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signalled she wanted to crack down on the number of people who have arrived in the UK on a student or work visa and have since claimed asylum.
- The Government is reviewing how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, applies to migration cases, Ms Cooper said. Several deportation attempts have been halted by how the ECHR clause has been interpreted in UK law. Ministers have looked to a tougher approach in Denmark for inspiration.
- Some £1 million in UK funding will go towards strengthened efforts to root out people-smuggling kingpins in Iraq's Kurdistan region, the Home Office announced.
- The UK has launched an advertising campaign on Vietnamese social media and messenger app Zalo, warning people about trusting people-smuggling gangs in an effort to reduce irregular migration from the south-east Asian country.
Speaking ahead of the summit, the Home Secretary said law enforcement needed to "work together across borders" to bring down people smuggling gangs.
She added: "Only a co-ordinated international response across the whole irregular migration route can effectively dismantle these networks.
"The Organised Immigration Crime Summit is the first of its kind and will reinforce the UK's position as a leader by securing international commitments to disrupt Organised Immigration Crime at every stage of the business model.
"The summit demonstrates mine and the Prime Minister's absolute dedication to disrupting the callous organised criminal gangs, strengthening our borders and ultimately save countless lives."
On Sunday, senior Tory shadow minister Alex Burghart said Labour should never have scrapped the Rwanda deportation plan.
"It was ready to go, and Labour came in, they won a majority, and they scrapped it. There is now no deterrent programme," he said.