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The UK has redirected nearly 90 million euros from the abandoned Rwanda deportation scheme to fund technology and staff as part of the new Border Security Command (BSC) aimed at combatting people-smuggling gangs, the interior ministry said Tuesday.
The new Labour government, elected by a landslide in July, immediately scrapped the Conservatives’ controversial scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, calling it an expensive “gimmick”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has instead promised to “smash the gangs” who profit from migrants wanting to cross the Channel from northern France.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Tuesday that up to £75 million (€90 million) of cash from the Rwanda scheme would be redirected to the new Border Security Command agency.
It will be used to fund covert cameras and monitoring technology to help in the gathering of evidence to enable gang ringleaders to be prosecuted, as well as additional border security staff.
“State of the art technology and enhanced intelligence capabilities will ensure we are using every tool at our disposal to dismantle this vile trade,” Cooper said in a statement.
EU cooperation
The UK government says it wants to tackle the problem “upstream”, cooperating with its closest neighbours in mainland Europe to prevent more migrants risking their lives on makeshift boats.
On Sunday, eight people died when their overcrowded vessel capsized off the French coast while trying to cross the busy shipping lane, less than two weeks after at least 12 others lost their lives.
Britain has already increased the number of its officers based at Europol to support European efforts at dismantling organised people-smuggling networks.
Starmer was in Rome on Monday to discuss Italy’s efforts to cut irregular migration, including plans to operate Italian-run migrant centres in Albania.
He praised Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni saying her nationalist conservative government had made “remarkable progress” in reducing illegal arrivals across the Mediterranean by 62 per cent this year.
Britain’s former Conservative government had spent some £700 million on the Rwanda scheme and planned to spend more than £10 billion in total, Cooper told parliament.
Describing it as “the most shocking waste of taxpayers’ money I have ever seen”, Cooper said it had led to only four people being relocated, all of them voluntarily.
RFI