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An embattled Sir Keir Starmer hit back at critics as he was accused of presiding over a “national security crisis” and striking a “surrender deal” with France which “won’t stop a single boat”. His long-awaited deal will not act as a deterrent but will be a “green light” to the people smugglers behind the small boats crisis, the Prime Minister’s opponents warned.

In an exclusive message for Sunday Express readers, a defiant Sir Keir accused Conservatives of “insulting the French” and boasted of securing “agreements to stop illegal migration in its tracks”.

But former Brexit minister David Jones, who has joined Reform UK, said: “Starmer’s so-called ‘deal’ with Macron on illegal immigration is yet another example of his obsession with photo opportunities over real solutions to Britain’s problems. The agreement is vague, unenforceable, and won’t stop a single boat.

“In fact, it’s so weak it may well encourage the people-traffickers. While Starmer schmoozes world leaders and racks up his air miles, British communities are left to deal with the consequences of unchecked migration.

“This isn’t leadership – it’s performative politics from a man more focused on his global image than on fixing the crisis at home.”

In the latest evidence of worry at the top of Government about the rise of Reform UK – which at 29% in the latest Techne poll is ahead of both Labour (22%) and the Conservatives (18%) – Sir Keir took a swipe at Nigel Farage.

The PM said: “Farage is terrified of this Government succeeding at stopping illegal migration. He doesn’t want the numbers to go down, because he knows that when they do, he’ll fade into irrelevance.

“I’m not going to stop working day and night to secure our borders, smash the gangs and make Britain a fairer, more secure country.”

But a Reform source said shot back, saying: “The idea that Nigel Farage wants terrorists, sexual offenders and common criminals to come into our country, at huge cost to the taxpayer, is laughable. It is incredibly arrogant of a Prime Minister who has overseen record numbers to now tell us he will stop this invasion of illegals.

“We have heard it all before.”

The latest polling by Opinium shows Sir Keir’s approval rating has fallen by six points to -41% – the “lowest ever approval rating” recorded by the pollster for the PM. This is within touching distance of the -44% recorded when Boris Johnson resigned as Tory leader.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Starmer is a weak and wet prime minister who has lost control of our borders and capitulates in every international negotiation. Labour’s migrant surrender deal lets 94% of illegal immigrants stay.

“This is a green light to the smugglers and a message to the world that if you come to Britain illegally you will stay.”

Claiming the “Channel crisis is spiralling out of control,” he said there have been “44,000 crossings since Labour took office and their only answer is to return just 50 people a week”.

He added: “This is a national security crisis and the prime minister is failing to lead. The Conservatives will reinstate the full Rwanda deterrent – 100% removals and zero loopholes.

“It worked in Australia, and it will work here.”

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith branded the PM’s deal a “bad joke” and claimed Sir Keir is “trampling” on Britain’s standing in the world.

Describing how world leaders see Prime Minister, he said: “It’s just inevitable they think, ‘This bloke’s coming on bended knee to get something off us. We’ll give him the minimum we can and make him pay for it.’ That’s exactly what’s happening.”

Stressing the case for a Rwanda-style deterrent, he said it was essential anyone tempted to come here illegally knows they will be put “on the next flight”.

Three former defence secretaries gave scathing verdicts on the PM’s performance.

Dame Penny Mordaunt said the deal with France will have “little impact”.

She said: “It fundamentally misunderstands both the migrants’ and France’s mindset. Starmer appears to have come into Number 10 not just without a plan to govern but with no thought about what his nation needed him to achieve.”

Sir Gavin Williamson took aim at the PM, saying: “Every deal that Keir Starmer enters into seems to deliver more for the other side than this ever does for the United Kingdom. We all know he likes his globetrotting but maybe you should be more focused on delivering at home as against international swanky summits.”

And Sir Liam Fox said: “We have no clear foreign policy. We have made unfounded commitments on defence.

“Our economic credibility is increasingly questioned on international markets. We have clearly failed to curb illegal migration but we have a haemorrhage of the wealthy out of Britain.

“[He is] a PM without either courage or vision, pushed around by his backbenchers despite a huge majority.”

Alan Mendoza of the Henry Jackson Society warned the deal – which envisages that for every person who arrives on a small boat someone else will be allowed to come to the UK – could in a worst-case scenario “increase the flow of illegal asylum seekers rather than reduce it”.

But the Prime Minister, writing in the Sunday Express, said: “Strict security checks will be in force, and the route only open to those who have not attempted to cross illegally before.”

Sir Keir dismissed the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme as a “gimmick” which cost £700million to “remove four volunteers”.

The PM will meet Germany’s Chancellor Merz of Germany when he comes to the UK this coming week. They will discuss how to tackle the criminal gangs behind people smuggling.