from spiked
Tony Smith, former head of the UK Border Force, on why it’s so difficult to deport foreign criminals.
Keir Starmer promised to ‘finally’ get a grip on Britain’s borders earlier this week. In a major speech on immigration, the UK prime minister outlined a series of measures tightening up the rules around visas. The focus was on legal routes and reducing net migration. What Starmer neglected to mention was Britain’s soaring levels of illegal migration, most visible in the small-boats crisis on the southern English coast. Migrants who arrive illegally are very rarely deported. Attempts to remove even criminals are routinely resisted by the courts, often on the most spurious grounds imaginable. How can the UK ever have control over its borders if we can’t even decide who gets to come and stay here?
Tony Smith, the former head of the UK Border Force, sat down with spiked’s Fraser Myers to discuss why Britain can’t stop the boats. What follows is an edited version of their conversation. You can watch the whole thing here: