Far from smashed, as the Labour Party promised, the gangs are evolving, writes the Research Director for the Centre for Migration Control
The era of the small boat crisis looks to be ending, as we now enter the age of mega dinghies.
The crossing earlier this week of one vessel carrying a record 165 illegal migrants - almost all of them young men - shows very clearly that the crisis is taking on a new form.
The uncomfortable truth for the Labour Government is that they have been focusing their energies in the wrong place.
The piecemeal measures designed to disrupt the business model of people smugglers were always destined to fail without the introduction of a cold, hard deterrent.
The abandonment of the Rwanda scheme, a steadfast commitment to the ECHR, and the failure of the one-in, one-out deal with France have meant that many migrants continue to look to Britain as a soft touch.
It cannot be denied that the numbers coming across are lower than the previous year, but this is at best a temporary operational success, reflecting a lull as people smugglers adjust their practices to work around the static measures put in place by Labour. The seizure of assets, and a renewed effort from the French police following political backlash, are issues readily overcome by a determined crook.
We have already seen glimpses of how they will respond. Vessels are now launching from Belgian beaches, and migrants have begun landing, unaccompanied by border force, further up the coast in Essex.
The introduction of mega dinghies is further proof that the gangs are always several steps ahead of the authorities - far from smashed, as the Labour Party promised, they are evolving.
And they have adapted because it is in their interests to do so. There is still huge demand for the crossings and will continue to be so long as migrants reckon it is worth their while trying to break into Britain.
Migrants know full well that once they have set foot in Britain and claimed asylum there is virtually no chance of them being deported. Even if their asylum claim is rejected, the refugee convention and human rights law make their return to Afghanistan, Eritrea, and other such countries nigh on impossible.
Add to this the new Prime Minister’s previous support for allowing Channel migrants to work, and his calls for Britain’s welfare state and social housing stock to be open to newcomers, and we are entering a purple patch for the smugglers.
After eight years of crossings, the country is almost numb to the invasion. It is worth remembering that when the first crossings took place in 2018, they received wall-to-wall media coverage, with the Home Secretary Sajid Javid cutting short his holiday to declare a “major incident”.
The numbers then were far smaller than they are now, and yet we are being told by Labour MPs and media commentators that the crisis is over. This is a contemptible lie.
Even if another vessel never crossed the Channel, which is highly unlikely, there will still be close to two hundred thousand Channel migrants in Britain who will never be deported, along with thousands who have entered in the back of lorries, and tens of thousands who have overstayed visas in the last couple of years.
This terrifying mega dinghy is a stark reminder that Britain’s borders are broken.
