Latest news with #ChannelCrossings
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Starmer to host Merz in chancellor's first official visit to UK
Sir Keir Starmer will host German chancellor Friedrich Merz on his first official visit to the UK on Thursday as the Prime Minister seeks to boost ties on defence and tackling people smuggling operations. Berlin agreed last year to make facilitating the smuggling of migrants to the UK a criminal offence in a move that will give law enforcements more powers to investigate the supply and storage of small boats to be used for Channel crossings. Mr Merz is expected to commit to adopting the law change by the end of the year. 'Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome,' Sir Keir said. 'As the closest of allies, we will continue to work closely together to deliver on the priorities that Brits and Germans share.' The Prime Minister has been seeking to strengthen ties with EU countries, including to bring down small boat crossings, and last week secured a migrant return agreement with France. The UK and Germany, two of the biggest providers of support to Ukraine, signed a defence pact last year with the aim of closer co-operation in the face of a growing threat from Russia. During Mr Merz's visit, the leaders are expected to unveil an agreement to jointly produce defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets and commit to developing their deep precision strike missile in the next decade, with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres. The chancellor and Sir Keir will also sign a bilateral friendship and cooperation treaty that includes plans to set up a new UK-Germany Business Forum. Sir Keir said: 'The Treaty we will sign today, the first of its kind, will bring the UK and Germany closer than ever. It not only marks the progress we have already made and the history we share. 'It is the foundation on which we go further to tackle shared problems and invest in shared strengths.' A series of commercial investments are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200 million and will create more than 600 new jobs. These include defence tech company Stark setting up a production facility in Swindon, its first outside Germany, and conversational AI firm Cognigy investing £50 million and expanding its UK team from 13 to 150.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Starmer to host Merz in chancellor's first official visit to UK
Sir Keir Starmer will host German chancellor Friedrich Merz on his first official visit to the UK on Thursday as the Prime Minister seeks to boost ties on defence and tackling people smuggling operations. Berlin agreed last year to make facilitating the smuggling of migrants to the UK a criminal offence in a move that will give law enforcements more powers to investigate the supply and storage of small boats to be used for Channel crossings. Mr Merz is expected to commit to adopting the law change by the end of the year. 'Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome,' Sir Keir said. 'As the closest of allies, we will continue to work closely together to deliver on the priorities that Brits and Germans share.' The Prime Minister has been seeking to strengthen ties with EU countries, including to bring down small boat crossings, and last week secured a migrant return agreement with France. The UK and Germany, two of the biggest providers of support to Ukraine, signed a defence pact last year with the aim of closer co-operation in the face of a growing threat from Russia. During Mr Merz's visit, the leaders are expected to unveil an agreement to jointly produce defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets and commit to developing their deep precision strike missile in the next decade, with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres. The chancellor and Sir Keir will also sign a bilateral friendship and cooperation treaty that includes plans to set up a new UK-Germany Business Forum. Sir Keir said: 'The Treaty we will sign today, the first of its kind, will bring the UK and Germany closer than ever. It not only marks the progress we have already made and the history we share. 'It is the foundation on which we go further to tackle shared problems and invest in shared strengths.' A series of commercial investments are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200 million and will create more than 600 new jobs. These include defence tech company Stark setting up a production facility in Swindon, its first outside Germany, and conversational AI firm Cognigy investing £50 million and expanding its UK team from 13 to 150.
The Guardian
15-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Three things the UK must do to make its small-boats deal with France work
With the much-anticipated Channel crossings deal with France, the government has an opportunity to build on the UK's proud history of offering sanctuary to people who desperately need it, and to save lives (Starmer hails 'groundbreaking' deal to return small-boat migrants to France, 10 July). As the prime minister noted, it is entirely right to provide a haven to people in the most dire need, and international collaboration is key to solving the global problem of displacement. But for the pilot to be successful, the UK government must keep these three things front of mind. First, the scheme must be open to all people in need of protection – and the process must be quick and simple. This will mean a fairer, safer alternative to Channel crossings, so that no one falls into the hands of smugglers. Second, humanity and compassion must be at the heart of the scheme. We're concerned that more people could be detained through this process. We know the impact that living in detention has on people's physical and mental health. There must be proper assessments to prevent people with health conditions, trauma or other vulnerabilities from being placed in harmful environments. Tailored support, advice and information at all stages of the new process will be essential. Finally, it's important that people with a close family connection – including siblings – in the UK can access the scheme. Families should be together. We know from our decades of experience supporting refugees across the UK that being with loved ones is essential for people to rebuild their lives and integrate. Behind every number crossing the Channel is a human being with hopes and fears. They have endured unimaginable suffering, and too many are losing their FraserDirector of refugee services, British Red Cross Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
People smugglers offering 'summer deals' post clips on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook to lure migrants into crossing Channel as July is set to be the busiest month ever for arrivals
People smugglers are offering migrants 'summer deals' for Channel crossings as the number using the dangerous route continues to surge. Adverts are still being shared on platforms including TikTok, Facebook and Instagram despite social media giants promising to clamp down on the content. Posts offer crossings to the UK for prices ranging from £900 to £5,000, and often include a WhatsApp number to contact. One advert shared on a Facebook page for Albanians wanting to work in the UK even included specific pick-up and drop-off times and locations, while another promised summer journeys for 'only £2,000'. Others mimic business sales tactics, urging viewers to 'migrate before it's too late' and tempting them with videos of successful crossings and images of British landmarks captioned 'welcome to London '. A total of 2,378 small boat migrants arrived in the UK this month up to Saturday. This puts it on course to be the busiest July on record, with 1,711 arriving in 2023 - the last busiest 12 days. It comes as Sir Keir Starmer announced a 'one in, one out' deal that will see one illegal migrant sent back to France in return for accepting one who has made a legal claim on the Continent. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has refused to say how many of the thousands arriving by dinghy will be removed under the pilot scheme, amid fears it will not serve as a sufficient deterrent. One advert shared on a Facebook page for Albanians in the UK even included specific pick-up and drop-off times and locations The National Crime Agency has been working with social media companies to get video footage of the crossings removed, with more than 8,000 taken down last year alone. But the number of videos still available online show the big platforms remain a key forum for smugglers looking to reach new clients. Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, believes content featuring migrants themselves could be particularly persuasive to anyone thinking of making the journey. 'Research suggests individuals are more sceptical about what smugglers say, but they feel more connection with migrants who are shown making the journey themselves, particularly if they share the same nationality,' he told MailOnline. 'The key thing is to share information about particular routes to take, how the process works and how much it costs. The countries migrants are going to are often presented as highly desirable, but often the information is not accurate. 'These are businesses a the end of the day, however disreputable, and prices go up and down. We've seen evidence of discounts being offered to people driving the boats. 'There are anecdotal reports of specific discounts being offered to some nationalities, such as Eritreans. I'm speculating, but it might be because smugglers are working out what kind of price point they'd be able to afford.' Several videos uncovered by the i showed the social media accounts of suspected smugglers celebrating successful crossings with gleeful captions such as 'Welcome to London'. One boasted 'we are masters' alongside celebratory emojis. Comment threads are often used by migrants to contact smugglers. In one comment to a TikTok clip, a user asks: 'Guys, how does one reach Britain', to which a suspected smuggler replies: 'Message me.' Ministers are under pressure to get a grip of the migrant crisis with 2025 on course to be a record year for small-boat crossings. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'It is unacceptable for any individual, whether they are a member of a smuggling gang or otherwise, to peddle these lies on social media and promote the criminal services of people-traffickers to others. 'It is also unacceptable for social media companies to host this type of promotional content, which is encouraging people to put their lives at risk in the Channel. 'As a result, we are working with the National Crime Agency and major social media companies, including TikTok, to seek the rapid removal of online content promoting dangerous small boat crossings. Since November 2021, the National Crime Agency has worked with social media companies to take down around 22,000 organised immigration crime related social media posts and accounts.' More than 21,000 people have already made the perilous journey across the Channel, and Iraqi Kurds now dominate the people smuggling networks. Yvette Cooper is set to strike a migrant returns deal with Iraq which would enable the UK to send more failed asylum seekers back. The Home Secretary is said to be in the 'final stages' of agreeing the pact to speed up cooperation between London and Baghdad. Ms Cooper is also planning to double down on Labour's controversial migrants return deal by banning repeat offenders from claiming asylum. Home Office sources said that any boat migrant who has been returned to France and then made a crossing again would not be able to apply for asylum. Their identities would also be stored on a biometric database. A source said: 'At about £3,000 a crossing it would be a total waste of money for them to try again.' Human-rights campaigners have said they will support court challenges brought by small-boat arrivals, while the EU says it is assessing whether the scheme complies with the 'spirit and the letter of the law'. Ms Cooper is also facing calls to extend the biometric testing into an effective revival of Sir Tony Blair's abandoned ID card plans, to stop migrants working illegally. In May, the Home Office's immigration white paper promised to roll out 'digital identity for all overseas citizens' to improve border management and 'enforcement against illegal working and misuse'. But there are increasing signs that ID cards could now be introduced for all citizens – not just migrants. Last month, Downing Street was said to be looking 'very closely' at a so-called 'BritCard' that could be used to check on an individual's right to live and work in this country. And yesterday, Labour MPs told the Mail on Sunday that on the back of the 'one in, one out' deal with France, now was the time to revive a modern version of those plans. Bury North MP James Frith said: 'There is considerable merit in revisiting digital ID now, given how far technology and public confidence in digitisation have come since this was last considered in our politics. 'From online banking to NHS apps, people are increasingly comfortable with secure digital services.' He added: 'In light of the new returns deal with France and efforts to strengthen the integrity of our asylum system, a carefully-designed digital ID could help protect access to public services, prevent abuse, and ensure faster, fairer support for those who need it.' According to TikTok, the platform proactively removed 96.9% of content that showed human trafficking and smuggling, including 70.4% within 24 hours of posting.
The Independent
12-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Keir Starmer has achieved the first half of his impossible mission
The British genius for seeing the cloud attached to every silver lining was on display this week. Only 50 a week? That's more like 17 in, one out, that is. We've been played by the French. What a load of rubbish. And so ever on. A fairer assessment is that Keir Starmer has made a breakthrough, the first step towards solving an impossible problem. He has secured the agreement with Emmanuel Macron that Rishi Sunak tried for and failed. For the first time, the French government has agreed to take some small-boat migrants back. I did not think that this was possible. I can see that it might objectively be in France's interest to close the Channel route. It might mean that fewer migrants come to France in the hope of then making it to the UK, and it would mean clearing the tent city around Calais and squatter camps across northern France. But the benefit would be marginal, while politically it seemed unthinkable that Macron would want to give the British special treatment. Yet he has. I thought it was a clever idea when Kit Malthouse, the Conservative MP, suggested the 'one in, one out' plan in February 2023. The idea was to send boat people back to France, while taking an equal number of genuine refugees, whose applications would be processed in France. But the end point would be that the Channel crossings would stop when migrants realised that they would be sent back, and the UK would quickly be freed from the requirement to take any refugees at all. The idea was taken up by Robert Jenrick, then immigration minister, and, I am told, it was discussed by Sunak and Macron at their meeting in Paris the following month. It didn't happen. Elegant as the Malthouse scheme seemed in theory, the practical questions were just too complicated. Those problems remain. As does the political cost to Macron of appearing to break ranks with other EU leaders to give the British what they want. But the deal has been done. Really, Starmer should be being carried shoulder-high through the streets of Dover with Nigel Farage leading the parade, while Jenrick makes a celebratory video of it for social media. Instead, Farage has branded the deal a 'humiliation' and the Tories have called it a 'gimmick'. These are the same Tories who criticised Starmer for cancelling the Rwanda scheme, claiming that it had a deterrent effect even though no flights had taken off. The Rwanda scheme had a total capacity of a few hundred, so if the deal with France takes 50 a week, it will be more of a deterrent. Sadly, Kemi Badenoch's letter of congratulation to the prime minister seems to have been lost in the second-class Saturday post. The truth is that she and Jenrick – and above all Farage – have an interest in Starmer's failure, so they will not praise the prime minister for achieving the first part of his impossible mission while there is still hope (for them) in the next part. If the pilot scheme is approved by the EU – a big if – it is not going to stop the boats, but it would allow the British and French governments to test the machinery that could stop the boats. Every migrant selected for removal to France will have the right to go to court, which means a new fast-track legal channel alongside the existing overloaded system. Without going full 'talking the country down', it has to be said that the chances of the Home Office making this work are low. But if it does work, the numbers could be increased. Obviously, the critics are right that returning a mere 5 per cent of arrivals is not much of a deterrent, any more than Rwanda would have been. But if the numbers could be raised to 50 per cent, things could start to change. I am not saying that this is likely to happen. But Starmer has taken the first step towards it that I thought was impossible. Before this week I thought the government had no credible plan, and could be beaten by Farage, who has no credible plan either, but who can promise the moon on a stick. Now I can imagine Labour going into the next election with living standards rising, the NHS improving and the number of small boats significantly reduced. That could be enough for Labour to win a second term. But if the small boats are still coming, I think the government is doomed. The stakes on the second part of Starmer's impossible mission are that high.
