Former immigration minister Mark Harper has called on the Labour government to "wake up" over its handling of Channel crossings in an exclusive interview with GB News.
Harper criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer's announcement that the UK is seeking to establish "return hubs" in third countries for failed asylum seekers, just months after scrapping the Conservatives' Rwanda scheme.
The plan, revealed during Starmer's visit to Albania yesterday, comes as the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats has passed 12,000 this year, putting 2025 on course to be a record year for crossings.
The Prime Minister described the concept as a "pretty important innovation" but acknowledged there was no "silver bullet" to solve the migration problem.
Mark Harper called on Labour to "wake up"
GB NEWS
A Downing Street spokesperson clarified the hubs would target people "who have exhausted all legal routes to remain in the UK, but are attempting to stall, using various legal tactics".
Speaking to GB News, Harper said: "Well, it's very clear that the phrase Keir Starmer used endlessly before and during the election campaign smash the gangs was just that: a phrase.
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"Complete nonsense. It hasn’t had any impact, and they haven’t been able to reduce the flow of people coming across the Channel.
"That’s why we said it was really important to have a deterrent. Yes, it was difficult to get the Rwanda scheme off the ground. It faced lots of legal challenges, it took a long time, and we hadn’t managed to get it up and running before the election.
"Labour came in and immediately scrapped it. They had no idea what to put in its place. And now we see them starting to talk about the need for a scheme like that. Well, frankly, they shouldn't have scrapped it in the first place.
"It’s quite clear: without a really strong deterrent, you're not going to stop people crossing the Channel. And I think the government is starting to wake up and realize that it’s made a terrible mistake."
On Monday, the Prime Minister used an early morning press conference to unveil a new crackdown on migration, warning the UK risks becoming an "island of strangers".
Among the measures announced were a ban on recruiting care workers from overseas, increased English language requirements for immigrants and tightened access to skilled worker visas.
Critics have accused the government of pandering to Nigel Farage after Reform UK took nearly 700 seats in recent local elections.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly rejected hosting UK return hubs during their joint press conference.
Keir Starmer announced the return hubs yesterday
GB NEWS
"We have been asked by several countries if we were open to it, and we said no, because we are loyal to the marriage with Italy and the rest is just love," Rama told reporters as Starmer stood beside him.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, condemned the approach, saying: "Threatening to detain people in countries they've never set foot in causes fear and panic leading to low rates of compliance, compared with orderly and humane returns systems."
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called the Albania trip "an embarrassment".
