𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The former head of the UK’s Border Force has revealed Sir Keir Starmer’s “biggest mistake” on tackling illegal immigration since entering Number 10. The Prime Minister pledged to “smash the gangs” smuggling people into the country, but has failed to get a real grip on the small boat crossings in the English Channel.

In 2025, 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats — the second-highest annual total on record — and 570 have arrived in the UK in the last seven days up to Saturday, official figures show. Tony Smith, former director general of Border Force, said a significant number of migrants will continue to make the treacherous journey unless Labour toughens its stance on asylum and human rights claims. He credited Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for putting forward plans to try to deter migrants from attempting to reach the UK, but identified Labour’s scrapping of the Conservatives’ flagship Rwanda deportation scheme as an error.

“In my view, the biggest mistake we’ve made is abolishing the Rwanda plan,” he told GB News.

The controversial plan had faced legal challenges since it was announced in 2022 and it was eventually ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court in 2023.

The Tories went on to sign a fresh deportation treaty with the Rwandan government in a bid to address the concerns of the court, with then-PM Rishi Sunak later insisting flights to the east African nation would take off after the 2024 General Election which Labour won.

On his first full day in office, Sir Keir said the scheme was “dead and buried”.

Mr Smith said: “Well, the first mistake was not making the Rwanda plan in the Illegal Migration Act strong enough in the first place to enable us to overcome legal challenges, particularly in the field of human rights.

“As you know, the last Government marched us up towards the top of the hill.

“We never quite got there, but my heart sank when I heard that Keir Starmer was advocating the immediate abolishing of the Rwanda plan.

“I thought that was our best hope.”

Senior Conservatives continue to insist the Rwanda plan would have worked.

In August last year, leader Kemi Badenoch said: “If Keir Starmer was serious about controlling our borders he wouldn’t have scrapped the Rwanda scheme.”

The former Tory government had already spent some £700 million on the deportation plan under which migrants who arrived in the UK by boat from France would be sent to Kigali in a bid to deter Channel crossings.

But just four volunteers ultimately arrived in Rwanda before the plan was scrapped.

Rwanda is suing Britain for more than £100 million, claiming it breached the terms of its agreement and is owed the money.