French action ‘has prevented nearly 500 small boat crossings this year'
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Cooper told MPs the Government had five tactics to address small boat crossings, including strengthening the border and clamping down on illegal working.
Her statement came days after the Government secured a new agreement with France over returning migrants who had arrived on small boats.
She said: 'French actions have prevented 496 boat crossings this year, but 385 boats have crossed.
'And criminal gangs are operating new tactics, increasing the overcrowding of boats so that more people arrive, and loading them in shallow waters, exploiting the French rules that means their authorities have not been able to intervene in the water.'
It is unclear whether the figure refers to small boat crossings being stopped before or during attempts to leave the coastline, or by other means such as seizing boats from warehouses.
The Home Secretary referred to 'appalling scenes' of people clambering onto crowded boats in shallow waters, and said French police had faced 'disgraceful violence' from gang members behind the crossings.
She continued: 'We cannot stand for this. That is why the new action agreed with France includes establishing a new French Compagnie de Marche of specialist enforcement officers, with stronger public order powers to address increases in violence on French beaches and prevent boat launches before they reach the water.'
Some 22,492 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel, according to latest Home Office figures.
This is up 57% on this point last year (14,291) and 71% higher than at this stage in 2023 (13,144), according to PA news agency analysis.
Last week's agreement saw a deal struck for a one in, one out system that would see a small boat migrant exchange for a legal asylum seeker.
No details have been given about how many people will be covered by the scheme, but reports from France have indicated it could initially be limited to around 50 a week – a small fraction of the weekly average this year of 782.
Priority will be given to people from countries where they are most likely to be granted asylum as genuine refugees, who are most likely to be exploited by smuggling gangs and also asylum seekers who have connections to the UK.
The accord came at the end of a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to the UK.
Ms Cooper said: 'The new agreement reached at the summit last week means stronger partnership working with source and transit countries to prevent illegal migration.'
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp rubbished the idea that progress had been made on the issue, and said statistics showed small boat crossings had risen under Labour.
Mr Philp said the 12 months since Labour's election last July had seen a 40% rise year-on-year in terms of crossings.
He said: 'The Home Secretary comes here today sounding rather pleased with herself. I'm afraid she has no reason to.
'A year ago, she promised to smash the gangs, she said again and again that was her plan, indeed it was her only plan. Yet today, there is no mention of what was once her favourite catchphrase.
'That's because her claim to smash the gangs has become a joke, an embarrassment to her and to the Government.'
He added that rather than closing asylum hotels, there were 3,000 more people in them than last year.
'She is setting records, just all the wrong ones,' he said.
Ms Cooper replied: 'This crisis, the small boats chaos, went on for 340 weeks under the Tories, a period in which when he was immigration minister, overall migration near trebled and small boat crossings increased tenfold when he was the immigration minister in charge.'
She later said the Government's plan would involve greater co-operation with other governments, rather than 'standing at the shoreline shouting at the sea'.
Ms Cooper said: 'We will best strengthen our border security by working with countries on the other side of those borders who face exactly the same challenges far better than just standing at the shoreline shouting at the sea.'
Conservative former minister Andrew Murrison asked the Home Secretary to respond to the idea that the UK was 'perceived as being attractive to illegal migrants'.
She replied: 'I do think frankly it has been too easy to work illegally in this country for too long, and we know that one of the things that the criminal gangs say to people is, 'it will be easy to get a job'.
'They will even give people discounts if they can come and work for those same criminal gangs operating in the UK.'
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The Guardian
40 minutes ago
- The Guardian
What we know about the secret Afghan relocation scheme
Details have emerged for the first time of an enormous accidental data breach by a British official in 2022 that put 100,000 Afghans at risk of torture and death, and the huge efforts by successive governments to keep the blunder secret, citing the risk of Taliban reprisals. Thousands of Afghan people – some of whom had worked with British forces in the country – have been secretly relocated to the UK as a direct result of the leak, at an additional cost of more than £850m. The breach has been subject to a superinjunction since August 2023, meaning journalists were banned from disclosing anything about it – or even the fact that an injunction existed. The superinjunction, which is the first ever requested by a British government and the longest in history, was lifted by the high court on Tuesday, which is why details of the leak and response can now be revealed. The leak in February 2022 was the result of an error by a defence official, who had been tasked with verifying applications to the Afghanistan Resettlement and Assistance Policy (Arap) resettlement scheme, designed for Afghans who had worked for British forces in the country. Working outside authorised government systems, he contacted a number of Afghans in the UK, believing he was sending a list of 150 names. Instead, he had emailed a copy of the entire list of applicants, from where it was passed on to others in Afghanistan. The Times reported the official was a British soldier based at Regent's Park barracks, the headquarters of the UK special forces. The leaked dataset contained the personal details of 18,800 individuals who were applying for resettlement along with their family members, including their phone numbers and in some cases addresses, amounting to 33,000 lines of data. Some emails of British government officials were also disclosed. It was discovered in August 2023 by an activist who was helping Afghans who had worked for UK forces. One of her contacts alerted her in alarm saying that an anonymous member of a Facebook group had said he had the database and was threatening to post it in full. She immediately contacted the MoD, saying: 'The Taliban may now have a 33,000-long kill list – essentially provided to them by the British government. If any of these families are murdered, the government will be liable.' The discovery was 'simply bone-chilling', she wrote. The realisation sparked panic in Whitehall, and an immediate hunt for the source of the leak. At the same time, UK officials contacted 1,800 Arap applicants in Pakistan warning them that they might be in danger. The MoD asked Facebook to remove the post, citing the 'risk of physical harm'. It then launched a top secret initiative, named Operation Rubific, to secretly evacuate to the UK those deemed most at risk of Taliban assassination – although tens of thousands would be left behind. After a number of journalists became aware of the leak within days of its disclosure to the MoD, Ben Wallace, then the defence secretary, asked the high court for an order banning any mention of the breach. On 1 September 2023 the judge Mr Justice Knowles granted a three-month superinjunction 'against the world', rather than named individuals, the first of its kind. Another judge extended it the following February, saying there was a 'real possibility that it is serving to protect' those named in the leaked database. However he cautioned: 'What is clear is that the government has decided to offer help to only a very small proportion of those whose lives have been endangered by the data incident and that the decisions in this regard are being taken without any opportunity for scrutiny through the media or in parliament.' The injuction was later extended further, despite challenges from four media organisations. The government cited concerns of retribution from the Taliban against those named. In December 2023 a covert new scheme called the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), was set up to evacuate to the UK some individuals on the list who were ineligible for Arap. Though it was initially set up to resettle around 200 'principals' and their families, to date 900 individuals and 3,600 family members have been brought to Britain or are in transit via ARR, at a cost of £400m. Taking into account the wider schemes, other official figures show that so far the government has relocated 35,245 Afghans to Britain, of whom 16,156 were among those affected by the data leak. The present defence minister, John Healey, had been briefed on the leak while in opposition, but said on Tuesday that other cabinet members had only become aware of the situation after Labour was elected to government in July 2024. On taking office he 'began straightway to take a hard look at the policy complexities, costs, risks, court hearings and the range of Afghan relocation schemes being run across government', he told parliament on Tuesday. In January, he commissioned a former senior civil servant, Paul Rimmer, to conduct an independent review. He concluded that, nearly four years into Taliban rule of Afghanistan, the leaked data 'may not have spread nearly as widely as initially feared', and 'there is little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution' against those on the leaked list. The review concluded that the ARR scheme 'may now be disproportionate to the actual impact of the data loss'. As a result, the government told the high court on Tuesday that the superinjunction should be discontinued. In his ruling, Mr Justice Chamberlain described the cost of the plans as amounting to 'the sort of money which makes a material difference to government spending plans and is normally the stuff of political debate'. The ARR has now closed, Healey told MPs, although he said 600 'invitations' that had already been granted to individuals and their families would be honoured. 'When this nation makes a promise, we should keep it,' he said. He also offered 'a sincere apology on behalf of the British government', which was echoed by the Conservative shadow defence minister, James Cartlidge. MoD figures published on Tuesday show that across several Afghan resettlement schemes, the numbers of those who have already come to the UK and those who have not yet travelled total 56,100 people, including family members. The estimated total cost of all resettlement schemes is now £5.5-6bn. The covert ARR scheme set up specifically in response to the leak is expected to cost £850m.
Rhyl Journal
42 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Defence Secretary offers ‘sincere apology' for leak of Afghans' personal data
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge also apologised on behalf of the former Conservative government, who were in power when the leak occurred and when it was discovered more than a year later. Their apologies came after a superinjunction was lifted on Tuesday, which had prevented the media from reporting the data breach. Mr Healey told the Commons: 'This serious data incident should never have happened. 'It may have occurred three years ago under the previous government, but to all those whose information was compromised, I offer a sincere apology today on behalf of the British Government, and I trust the shadow defence secretary, as a former defence minister, will join me.' Mr Cartlidge, who was a minister in August 2023 when the then-government became aware of the data breach, mirrored this sentiment. He said: 'The Secretary of State has issued an apology on behalf of the Government and I join him in that and in recognising that this data leak should never have happened and was an unacceptable breach of all relevant data protocols. 'And I agree it is right that an apology is issued specifically to those whose data was compromised.' A dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) was released 'in error' in February 2022 by a defence official. Arap was responsible for relocating Afghan nationals who had worked for or with the UK Government and were therefore at risk of reprisals once the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) only became aware of the breach over a year after the release, when excerpts of the dataset were anonymously posted onto a Facebook group in August 2023. The Government sought a court order to prevent details of the breach being published and was granted a superinjunction, which also stopped the fact an injunction had been made from being reported. The leak resulted in the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) – in April 2024. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people, including family members of the Arap applicants, were affected by the breach and could be at risk of harassment, torture or death if the Taliban obtained their data, judges said in June 2024. However an independent review, commissioned by the Government in January 2025, concluded last month that the data loss was 'unlikely to profoundly change the existing risk profile of individuals named'. Around 4,500 people, made up of 900 Arap applicants and approximately 3,600 family members, have been brought to the UK or are in transit so far through the Afghanistan Response Route. A further estimated 600 people and their relatives are expected to be relocated before the scheme closes, with a total of around 6,900 people expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme. The ARR is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected cost of around £850 million, once completed. Mr Healey told MPs that he had been 'deeply uncomfortable to be constrained from reporting to this House' as he referred to the superinjunction, which was made at the High Court in September 2023 to reduce the risk of alerting the Taliban to the existence of the data breach. He added that the safety of Afghans who were at risk from the leak had weighed 'heavily' on him. The Defence Secretary said: 'I would have wanted to settle these matters sooner, because full accountability to Parliament and freedom of the press matter deeply to me. They're fundamental to our British way of life. 'However, lives may have been at stake, and I've spent many hours thinking about this decision. Thinking about the safety and the lives of people I will never meet, in a far-off land, in which 457 of our servicemen and women lost their lives. 'So this weighs heavily on me, and it's why no Government could take such decisions lightly, without sound grounds and hard deliberations.' He assured MPs that the MoD has taken steps to prevent another such data breach happening again. He said: 'This data leak was just one of many from the Afghan schemes at the time. 'And what I can say is that since the election, in this last year, we as a Government have appointed a new chief information officer. 'We have installed new software to securely share data, and we have also completed a comprehensive review of the legacy Afghan data on the casework system.' The minister said 'one can never say never', but added that he is 'more confident than I was 12 months ago about the reduced risk of data losses and data breaches in future'. Chairman of the defence committee Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi told the Commons: 'This whole data breach situation is a mess and is wholly unacceptable.' The Labour MP added that he is 'minded to recommend to my defence committee colleagues that we thoroughly investigate, to ascertain what has actually transpired here, given the serious ramifications on so many levels'.
Glasgow Times
43 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Chancellor's Leeds Reforms to put money in people's pockets
Changes include reforming the bank ring-fencing regime and reducing red tape in the City in order to reintroduce 'informed risk-taking' into the financial system, the Government said. In the Chancellor's Leeds Reforms, Rachel Reeves has unveiled a package of reforms to the UK's financial system set to be the biggest in a decade, aimed at delivering economic growth and spurring on retail investing. The Chancellor said the 'Leeds reforms', unveiled in the West Yorkshire city, 'represent the widest set of reforms to financial services for more than a decade'. New measures are intended to help drive increased levels of investment among both financial firms and individuals. The Treasury said the ring-fencing regime – which was brought in after the 2008 financial crisis to separate banks' retail and investment banking activities – will be reformed. 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The Government said it will radically streamline the current regime and cut the burden on firms in half. The Leeds Reforms - named after one of our financial services' hubs and a city I'm proud to represent - will deliver the biggest package of reforms to financial services regulation in a decade. Kickstarting economic growth and putting more pounds in people's pockets. — Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP) July 15, 2025 Cuts to City red tape sit alongside efforts to boost the level of investment among individuals. This includes rolling out 'targeted support' from April next year, whereby banks can alert customers with cash sitting in low-return current accounts about investment opportunities. Major banks and financial firms including Barclays, Lloyds, Vanguard and Hargreaves Lansdown are backing a new advertising campaign highlighting the benefits of investing. Risk warnings on investment products could also potentially be watered down as part of a review into possible barriers to investing. The Government also said it will continue to consider reforms to ISAs and savings to strike the right balance between cash savings and investment. Ms Reeves was widely expected to leave cash ISAs untouched in the measures announced on Tuesday (July 15), following speculation that she was planning to cut the annual tax-free allowance in a bid to spark more investment instead. 'We are fundamentally reforming the regulatory system, freeing up firms to take risks and to drive growth,' Ms Reeves told finance chiefs when setting out the reforms in Leeds. Recommended reading: Adam French, consumer expert at says: 'It is encouraging to see steps being taken to make retail investing a less daunting proposition by plugging the advice gap and empowering firms to give more targeted support while maintaining appropriate safeguards. But it is only part of the puzzle. 'It is also essential that we avoid a return to the low interest rates of the past decade which had a significant and often overlooked side effect: skewing investment priorities by driving capital into property instead of more productive areas of the economy. For the Leeds Reforms to work it must be the case that backing the next generation of British businesses looks safer and more rewarding than property speculation.' Brian Byrnes, head of personal finance at Moneybox, adds: "It is encouraging to see steps being taken to support first-time buyers. Enabling people to borrow more is not a silver bullet. What first-time buyers truly need is not just the ability to take on more debt, but meaningful, long-term support to help them start saving and investing earlier in life so they can build up that all-important deposit." Sarah Coles, head of personal finance for Hargreaves Lansdown, also comments: 'It's incredibly positive to see Rachel Reeves take some key steps towards closing the UK's yawning retail investment gap. 'There will be a new era of investment with the advent of new rules allowing companies to offer targeted support to their clients, alongside changes to risk warnings so they actively help retail investors understand their options rather than standing in their way of harnessing the incredible power of investment.'
