Sir Keir Starmer said that before Britain left Brussels, returns agreements with the EU would enable illegal migrants to be sent packing as he lays blame for migrant crossings
Sir Keir Starmer had a lot to say in his conference speech(Image: Andrew Stenning/Daily Mirror)
The Prime Minister has blamed Brexit and Nigel Farage for causing the surge in small boats crossing the channel.
Sir Keir Starmer further fanned the flames in his row with the Reform UK leader as he dubbed the dinghies “Farage boats”.
He said that before Britain left Brussels, returns agreements with the EU would enable illegal migrants to be sent packing.
He accused Mr Farage of scuppering those deals and said he should take sole responsibility for Britain’s broken borders.
He said: “I would gently point out to Nigel Farage and others that before we left the EU we had a returns agreement with every country in the EU, and he told the country it would make no difference if we left.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage immediately reacted to the speech (Image: PA)
“He was wrong about that.
“These are ‘Farage boats’, in many senses, that are coming across the Channel.”
He also claimed that Farage has no interest in fixing the problem because his “reason to exist goes away”.
Sir Keir said: “When we are trying to deal with our borders, we’re trying to pass the Borders Bill to give more powers to law enforcement to deal with the small boats.
“What did Nigel Farage do? He voted against it.
“We’ve got a returns deal with France. What does Nigel Farage do? He says he’d rip it up.
“There’s ID cards to stop them working illegally in our economy. He says he’ll reverse that.
“He doesn’t want to fix the problems because if the problem is fixed his reason to exist goes away.”
Since Labour conference began on Sunday, some 1,368 illegal arrivals have turned up on Britain’s shores.
The PM also hinted he will consider changing how courts apply human rights laws in migrant cases concerning “torture”.
He said ministers should “look at issues” in Article 3 of the ECHR, which is often used by dinghy arrivals to prevent their deportation.
Migrants have used the treaty to complain that if they are returned to their home state, they will face inadequate conditions in prison.
Sir Keir added: “We are seeing mass migration in a way we have not seen in previous years.
“Those genuinely fleeing persecution should be afforded asylum – that is a compassionate act, but we need to look again at the interpretation of some of those provisions – not tear them down but look at the interpretation.
“I think there’s a difference between someone being deported to summary execution and someone who is simply going somewhere where they don’t have the same level of healthcare, or for that matter the same prison conditions.
“And therefore, I do think we should look at issues like that again, I think there’s quite an appetite to look at issues like that again.”
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