Clampdown on social media ads for Channel crossings unveiled
Anyone who advertises Channel crossings or fake passports on social media could face up to five years in prison under new government plans.
Research suggests about 80% of migrants arriving to the UK by small boat used internet platforms during their journey - including to contact agents linked to smuggling gangs.
While it is already illegal to assist illegal immigration, ministers hope the creation of a new offence will give police more powers and disrupt business models.
1:42
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is also planning to introduce a fast-track scheme to tackle the asylum backlog, meaning decisions will be made within weeks.
It comes as official figures show more than 25,000 people have arrived on small boats so far in 2025 - a record for this point in the year.
Ms Cooper said it is "immoral" for smugglers to sell false promises online, adding: "These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media.
"We are determined to do everything we can to stop them, wherever they operate."
The new offence prohibiting the online promotion of Channel crossings is set to be included in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill already going through Parliament.
0:27
Officials from the National Crime Agency already work with tech giants to remove such posts - with more than 8,000 taken offline last year.
A Preston-based smuggler who was jailed for 17 years had posted videos of migrants thanking him for his help.
Meanwhile, Albanian smugglers have created promotions for £12,000 "package deals" which claim to offer accommodation and a job in the UK on arrival.
The Conservatives have described the measures as "too little, too late" - and say automatic deportations are the only way to tackle small boat crossings.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "Labour still has no clear plan to deter illegal entry, no effective enforcement and no strategy to speed up removals. This is a panicked attempt to look tough after months of doing nothing."
0:49
It comes as protests outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers continue in towns and cities across the UK.
Several demonstrators were detained - with police breaking up brief clashes - outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in north London yesterday.
The government is legally required to provide accommodation and subsistence to destitute asylum seekers while their claims are being decided, most of whom are prohibited from working.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
43 minutes ago
- Times
My teenage daughter talks in therapy speak all the time
Q. I'm struggling with how to parent my 17-year-old daughter. She's started accusing me of being 'toxic', 'emotionally manipulative' and even 'gaslighting' her. These are big words with big meanings and they come out in heated moments — when I ask about her plans, offer advice or challenge her on things like school or screen time. I've always tried to be a loving, involved parent. We've had our clashes, like any mum and teenage daughter, but this feels different. The words she uses come straight from therapy speak online and it's as if she's diagnosing me with something every time we argue. I feel silenced; anything I say could be used against me. I've also become anxious about setting any boundaries with her, especially since a close friend of mine has been completely cut off by her daughter. I'm terrified the same thing could happen to me.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Government pledges extra £100m funding to tackle people smuggling
The Home Office has announced £100m in extra funding as part of efforts to crack down on illegal people smuggling in the English money will pay for up to 300 additional National Crime Agency (NCA) officers as well as new technology and than 25,000 people made the journey from France to the UK in small boats before the end of July, a record for this point in the Secretary Yvette Cooper said the move would help the UK better "track the [smuggling] gangs and bring them down". The Conservative Party called it a "desperate grab for headlines which will make no real difference". Last month, the government agreed a "one in, one out" pilot scheme with France which aims to deter migrants from crossing the Channel. Under the scheme, some arrivals would be returned to France and in exchange the UK would accept an equivalent number of asylum seekers, subject to security to the Home Office, the new £100m will boost border security and strengthen investigations targeting smuggling kingpins who have operations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Cooper said gangs had shown a "a ruthless ability to adapt their tactics and maximise their profits, no matter how many lives they put at risk".The NCA has 91 ongoing investigations into people-smuggling networks affecting the UK, the agency's director general of operations Rob Jones said. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having "no serious plan" to tackle the issue."The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges," he in the Daily Express, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said it was an effort to "throw taxpayer money at the illegal immigration crisis and hope it will go away"."Another £100 million here or there won't move the needle. It won't stop the boats or the gangs," he and previous Conservative governments have both struggled to reduce the number of people coming to the UK illegally in small Conservatives had proposed sending arrivals to Rwanda, but the scheme was delayed by legal challenges. The general election was called before it could be of Sir Keir Starmer's first acts as prime minister was to scrap the plan, calling it a another measure, which was revealed on Sunday, people advertising illegal Channel crossings online could face up to five years in prison under a new offence the government plans to illegal immigration to the UK is already a crime, but officials believe the new offence would give police and other agencies more power to disrupt criminal would criminalise the creation of material for publication online which promotes or offers services that facilitate a breach of UK immigration would include people using social media to advertise fake passports or visas, or the promise of illegal work opportunities in the UK, and as well as jail time could carry a large fine.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
The Tesla whistleblower and the cost of taking on Elon Musk
In November 2022, a whistleblower contacted investigative journalist Sönke Iwersen. He could not give his name, he said, but he had access to huge amounts of data about Tesla, his former employer: private phone numbers, social security information, bank statements, documents stamped 'top secret', and much, much more. It could not be real, Iwersen thought – his editor at the German newspaper Handelsblatt agreed. Still, he tells Helen Pidd, they kept digging. It was the start of a years-long investigation into Tesla, and a years-long relationship with the whistleblower, too. Here, he shares what he learned – not only exposing serious safety concerns about Tesla's famed autopilot, but giving a glimpse into the company culture under the leadership of Elon Musk, the world's richest man. 'Narcissism', says Iwersen. His book detailing it all, The Tesla Files, written with fellow journalist Michael Verfürden, is out now.
