Healey slams ‘shocking' scenes of smugglers picking up migrants ‘like a taxi'
French police officers were seen watching as migrants, including children, boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats.
French police officers watch a group of people thought to be migrants board a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines, France (Gareth Fuller/PA)
French authorities said they rescued 184 people and that numerous boat departures were reported.
'Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday,' John Healey told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News.
'Truth is, Britain's lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.'
French authorities escort a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines (Gareth Fuller/PA)
The Defence Secretary said it is a 'really big problem' that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.
'We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up,' he added.
He said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene.
'They're not doing it, but, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we've got the level of co-operation needed.
'We've got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.'
People thought to be migrants wait on the beach at Gravelines to board a small boat (Gareth Fuller/PA)
The highest number of arrivals recorded on a single day so far this year was 825 on May 21.
This year is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with more than 13,000 people having arrived so far, up 30% on this point last year, according to analysis of the data by the PA news agency.
Sir Keir Starmer's Government has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings including with measures targeting smuggling gangs.
People thought to be migrants wade through the sea at Gravelines awaiting a boat (Gareth Fuller/PA)
A Home Office source said: 'We have developed strong co-operation with the French and it is important that they have agreed to disrupt these boats once they're in the water – and not just on the shore.
'This vital step now needs to be operationalised to protect border security and save lives.'
A Home Office spokesperson pointed to measures to share intelligence internationally, enhance enforcement operations in northern France and introduce tougher rules in its immigration legislation.
The remains of a small boat on the beach in France, following an unsuccessful attempt by people thought to be migrants to reach the UK (Gareth Fuller/PA)
'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay, and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
'That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Western Telegraph
36 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Criminals to face jail over forcing children to conceal drugs under new offence
Ministers are seeking to create the new criminal offence to crack down on the action known as 'plugging' typically used by organised criminals to move goods from one place to another in county lines drug running. Children and vulnerable adults are forced to ingest or conceal the items in their bodies, which can cause significant harm and can be fatal if drug packages break open inside them, leading to an overdose. The move will be included as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill currently going through Parliament. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: 'There is something truly evil about the gang leaders who degrade young girls, young boys and vulnerable adults in this way, forcing them to put their lives at risk. 'This new offence will go alongside other measures in our landmark Crime and Policing Bill to turn the tables on the gang leaders and hold them to account for exploiting children and vulnerable adults.' It comes as the Government committed to investing £42 million into a programme to tackle county lines gangs and support victims of the drugs trade. Since July 2024, more than 800 violent criminals involved in county lines have been charged through the programme's enforcement action and 1,200 drug lines have been closed, according to the Home Office. More than 2,100 safeguarding referrals for children and vulnerable people have also been made, it added. Jack O'Neill, of The Children's Society, said: 'Children forced to carry drugs in this way are subject to a form of abuse and exploitation that causes deep, long-lasting harm, and the law must reflect that. 'A clear legal definition of child criminal exploitation would help stop vulnerable children falling through the cracks and shift the focus onto the predators who profit from their abuse.'
Western Telegraph
36 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Police caught 91 under-18s with bladed weapons in 2024, figures show
The new statistics, which come in the wake of the deaths of teenagers Amen Teklay and Kayden Moy, prompted concerns of a 'youth violence epidemic'. The two teenagers both died after allegedly being stabbed in separate incidents this year. Now analysis of Police Scotland stop and search data by the justice and home affairs magazine 1919 showed that in 2024 teenagers accounted for almost a third of positive knife searches across all age groups. The 91 cases of a someone under the age of 18 being caught with a bladed or pointed weapon equate to about one such case every four days. The data revealed a 10-year-old was caught with a knife in the east of Edinburgh in July 2024. Meanwhile, 12-year-olds were caught with bladed weapons in the capital, Glasgow, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, the magazine reported. In addition, more than a dozen children aged 13 – including two girls – were also found to have such items when searched. David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said: 'Each one of the truly shocking statistics is a justifiable and evidenced-based reaction by the police to an increasingly concerning societal trend we now see emerging among younger members of our communities in Scotland.' He added: 'Each of these statistics is a real situation which created significant risk for my colleagues, as well as potentially life-changing consequences for the perpetrator, and sadly – as we have seen so tragically across Scotland recently – the victims of knife crime, their families and friends.' Mr Threadgold said that the 'solution to this problem cannot rest alone with the police', arguing for 'much greater and more effective preventative strategies' to be put in place across Scotland. Labour's Pauline McNeill said the figures were are 'yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland' (Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA) Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: 'These shocking figures are yet another sign that there is a youth violence epidemic emerging in Scotland.' She added: 'Each one of these 91 cases is very serious for our communities and potentially for those actually carrying the weapon. 'The only way to tackle this effectively is to have early intervention schemes that get to the root cause, and without this we will fail our communities.' Calling for 'urgent action', she insisted the Scottish Government had 'created a perfect storm by cutting youth work services, letting police officer numbers fall, and mismanaging CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) and education'. First Minister John Swinney has already urged youngsters not to carry knives (Andrew Milligan/PA) First Minister John Swinney has already warned youngsters against carrying knives, insisting this is 'dangerous' and 'damaging'. But Scottish Tory community safety spokesperson Sharon Dowey insisted it was 'high time nationalist ministers woke up to the gravity of this situation'. The Conservative MSP said: 'These alarming figures lay bare just how drastically knife crime has spiralled out of control.' She said there needs to be 'meaningful punishments for those who use a knife' along with 'expanded stop-and-search powers for police to act as a deterrent'. However, she claimed: 'The SNP's soft-touch attitude towards justice represents an abject dereliction of duty by John Swinney's government.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Stop and search powers should be used where lawful, necessary and proportionate. Their use in individual cases is an operational matter for Police Scotland. 'Police do use stop and search, and it is one tool to tackle violence alongside a range of other measures such as prevention and education.' Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland of Police Scotland meanwhile said: 'Victims of crime and people right across the country expect us to use all powers at our disposal to keep them safe. 'Stop and search is just one of those powers and one in every three searches leads to the recovery of illicit or harmful items, safeguarding our communities.' Mr Sutherland stressed that 'intelligence-led stop and search is a valuable and effective policing tactic in detecting and preventing crime when it is used lawfully, proportionately and in line with the code of practice, which was introduced in 2017'. This code has a 'dedicated section for children', he added, which provides officers with guidance to be used when when making a decision to stop and search a child. He said: 'We recognise that stopping and searching people is a significant intrusion into their personal liberty and privacy and we remain committed to ensuring that people are treated with fairness, integrity and respect. 'It is also a tactic that enables the service to keep people safe and assist in ensuring the wellbeing of our wider communities.'
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Criminals to face jail over forcing children to conceal drugs under new offence
Children and vulnerable adults are forced to ingest or conceal the items in their bodies, which can cause significant harm and can be fatal if drug packages break open inside them, leading to an overdose. The move will be included as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill currently going through Parliament. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: 'There is something truly evil about the gang leaders who degrade young girls, young boys and vulnerable adults in this way, forcing them to put their lives at risk. 'This new offence will go alongside other measures in our landmark Crime and Policing Bill to turn the tables on the gang leaders and hold them to account for exploiting children and vulnerable adults.' It comes as the Government committed to investing £42 million into a programme to tackle county lines gangs and support victims of the drugs trade. Since July 2024, more than 800 violent criminals involved in county lines have been charged through the programme's enforcement action and 1,200 drug lines have been closed, according to the Home Office. More than 2,100 safeguarding referrals for children and vulnerable people have also been made, it added. Jack O'Neill, of The Children's Society, said: 'Children forced to carry drugs in this way are subject to a form of abuse and exploitation that causes deep, long-lasting harm, and the law must reflect that. 'A clear legal definition of child criminal exploitation would help stop vulnerable children falling through the cracks and shift the focus onto the predators who profit from their abuse.'
