Eagle: People-smuggling gangs must be stopped even with ‘whack-a-mole’ approach

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA) - (PA Wire)

Having to take a “whack-a-mole” approach to tackling people smuggling is no reason not to try and prevent criminal gangs, a Home Office minister has said.

Asked whether the Government’s plans on people smuggling go far enough and whether they have an approach akin to the fairground game, Dame Angela Eagle told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Just because you have to play whack-a-mole, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to take down organised immigration crime and disrupt the people that are putting people’s lives at risk in the Channel for huge amounts of money.”