Beefed-up anti-terrorism laws will be used to try to tackle the small boats crisis, under plans to be unveiled by the Government in the King's Speech.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper intends to use Labour's thumping Commons majority to extend powers under the Terrorism Act to organised immigration crime, and she is now headhunting a former top spy – such as Sir Alexander Younger, the ex-MI6 chief – to fill the role of Border Security Commander. A total of 590 cross-Channel migrants arrived between last Tuesday and Friday.
Ms Cooper is also planning to increase by 50 per cent the number of specialist officers from Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) stationed within Europol, the EU's crime-fighting agency, as part of the new drive.
It came as a former border chief yesterday claimed Kurdish people-smuggling gangs are now calling Sir Keir Starmer the 'friendly one' after he scrapped former prime minister Rishi Sunak's plan to send migrants to Rwanda.
Pictured:A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel
Britain's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper at a visit toLewisham Police Station on July 8
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel on July 13
Kevin Saunders, the ex-chief immigration officer at the UK Border Agency, said: 'The Kurds are calling the Prime Minister 'the friendly one' because they now think he is their big friend who's going to look after them all when they get to England.
'I think it [the Rwanda scheme] was a deterrent, and we saw that the people were concerned about what was going to happen, fleeing to the Republic of Ireland because they did not want to risk going to Rwanda.'
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Saunders added: 'The mayor of Boulogne summed it up – the UK is paying France half a billion pounds to stop the boats leaving France, yet when they reach the UK, we roll out the red carpet and treat the refugees extremely well. He was saying we are almost too nice to these people, and we should offer more of a deterrent.'
The issue of migrants arriving in the UK on small boats from France bedevilled the dying days of the last Conservative administration, and is high on Sir Keir's crisis-preparedness list for his first weeks in office.
As sunny, calm conditions on the Channel tend to encourage the crossings – a Border Force vessel had to rescue more migrants off the Kent coast yesterday – the Prime Minister's aides have been 'praying for rain' to limit the chance of his honeymoon period in Downing Street being spoiled by a surge in numbers.
Labour sources said the Home Secretary hoped the package of measures would succeed where the Tories failed because 'they were obsessed with Rwanda and didn't have the parliamentary bandwidth to pass the necessary laws'.
Ms Cooper will speak to Catherine de Bolle, the executive director of Europol, in the coming days about co-operation with her new Border Security Command, which will combine the expertise of the NCA, intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force to 'boost border security', under the direction of the new commander.
Britain's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper at a visit to Lewisham Police Station on July 8
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel on July 13
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper intends to use Labour's thumping Commons majority to extend powers under the Terrorism Act to organised immigration crime
After Neil Basu, the UK's former head of counter-terrorism, declined to apply for the role, Ms Cooper is understood to have drawn up a wish list of candidates which includes Sir Alexander, Tom Hurd, the former Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, and Lindsey Chadwick, the Director of Intelligence at the Metropolitan Police.
On taking office, Ms Cooper spoke to Graeme Biggar, the Director General of the NCA, to stress 'the need to break the business model of the criminal smuggling gangs', sources said.
Legislation in Wednesday's King's Speech will place new restrictions on the internet access and banking of people smugglers.
It will also extend powers in the Terrorism Act 2000 to conduct stop and search operations on the border, investigate money laundering activities and live-monitor bank accounts. The laws would also apply the powers used to thwart terror attacks by searching and seizing items from the premises of people traffickers.
Ms Cooper said: 'Criminal gangs are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk, as we saw in the Channel again tragically this week.
'An entire criminal industry has been allowed to take hold both along our border and through sophisticated criminal networks across Europe and beyond.'
She added: 'It is appalling that for so long they have just been able to get away with it. We are determined to launch major new operations to pursue the gangs, the boats and the money.
'Our new Border Security Command will coordinate efforts across our intelligence agencies, Immigration and Enforcement and Border Force, police and the NCA to boost our border security, with new powers in place.
'And we are immediately increasing our work with Europol to plan new operations across the continent. The Conservative government failed to ever have a comprehensive plan to go after the gangs and they've been getting away with it for too long. That changes now.'
