Keir Starmer urged to 'bring back Rwanda scheme' after release of damning Home Office data: 'They have no plan!'

"The big worry is the Labour Government doesn't have any plan [for] a realistic deterrence for people crossing the Channel and getting into this country illegally," he said.

The shadow minister argued that the previous Conservative government had already established a solution through legislation: "And the answer that was already on paper for them. It was there as part of legislation, which was the Rwanda scheme."

Fuller emphasised his opposition to granting residency rights to those arriving illegally: "People who come through across the channel should never have the right to live in the UK. That's the wrong policy.

"That's the wrong approach, and the Rwanda scheme was the way to stop that happening," he said.

When Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander suggested the Conservatives lacked faith in their Rwanda policy, Fuller dismissed her claims, stating she "doesn't know what she's talking about".

He fumed: "I'm afraid Heidi Alexander doesn't know what she's talking about. It's interesting, isn't it, that she didn't dispute what the figures are showing.

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"And so the big question is, why did the new Labour Government get rid of the one thing that was demonstrating that was a proven deterrent for people going across the Channel?"

In a further attack on Labour, Fuller added: "Why is it this Government is not taking more robust action, trying to persuade the French, or taking actions that will encourage the French to be more proactive on the French coastline as well?"

Urging Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to restart the Rwanda scheme, Fuller told GB News that Labour must "press France more firmly" on border security.

He explained: "What good thing we could do is get the performance of the French border patrol up to the standards of the Belgians, which do a pretty good job of stopping crossings. And the way to do that, perhaps, is to pause any negotiation with the French over the changes on the fishing rights, that seems to be what the French worry about.

"The problem is that when it comes to any deal, this Prime Minister is a very, very poor negotiator. He won't play hardball. I think he should play hardball. He could do something to make up for some of the loss that he's created in terms of deterrence by getting rid of the Rwanda scheme."

Noting that the Government is paying millions to France to help tackle the migrant crisis, Fuller argued that Britain is "not getting bang for its buck".

Fuller concluded: "You've heard about the hundreds of millions of pounds the British taxpayers have put into French policing, because obviously there's a shared issue here. It's just we're not getting any bang for our buck from the French, and so we need to try and encourage the French government to take this issue more seriously.

"The best answer is to bring back the Rwanda scheme. But I don't think Keir Starmer is going to do that."