Yvette Cooper says officers have made 'significant seizures' of smugglers' boats with Germany considering using UK's Rwanda facilities

Yvette Cooper, speaking ahead of a meeting yesterday with the Prime Minister and law enforcement officials, said people smugglers “should not be able to get away with” putting lives at risk.

The Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley MP said crossings were down in July and August compared to previous years, but lives were still being lost and smuggling gangs were still operating along the French coast.

The summit comes at the end of a week which saw 12 people die after their boat was “ripped apart” off northern France while they attempted to cross the Channel.

Ms Cooper stressed that the new Government was both hiring more investigators for the National Crime Agency (NCA) and working more closely with other European nations to address the issue.

Senior ministers including Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Attorney General Lord Hermer also attended the summit at the NCA headquarters, alongside representatives from the NCA, Border Force and intelligence community.

An analysis commissioned by the Home Secretary which dives into the gangs’ capability was expected to be examined at the summit, which also considered closer collaboration with European agencies such as Europol, and advancing the new Border Security Command.

Some 1,276 people have already crossed the Channel this week, bringing the total for the year so far to 22,328 – around 648 more than at the same point last year but 5,269 less than in 2022.

Since the general election, 8,754 people have made the crossing, less than in the same two-month period in either 2022 or 2023.

Speaking before the summit, Ms Cooper said: “The last two months has seen encouraging progress, with significant seizures of boats and equipment in Europe.

“But there is work to do, and the Border Security Command will bring all the relevant bodies together to investigate, arrest and prosecute these networks, as well as deepen our ties with key international partners.

“At the same time, we are swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK, which will ensure we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced.”

She also told broadcasters that the Government was making progress on clearing the asylum backlog and returning those with no right to be in the UK “so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels”.

It comes amidst reports that Germany could use asylum facilities in Rwanda originally intended for the UK’s aborted migration scheme.

The country’s migration commissioner, Joachim Stamp, has suggested the EU could utilise existing asylum accommodation in the east African country, originally destined for migrants deported from Britain under the now-scrapped scheme.

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick accused Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Cooper of having “surrendered to the smuggling gangs” after scrapping the Rwanda policy.