Forget ‘stop the boats’, Starmer wants to ‘smash the gangs’ – but will it work?

Children picked up at sea trying to cross the English Channel from France are helped to disembark from a Border Force vessel in Dover on 12 June. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

As Labour swept into power on Friday, there had not been any small boat crossings in the English Channel for three days. Numbers are still running at an all-time high, with more than 13,500 people making the treacherous journey so far this year, but high winds and rough seas have created a temporary respite for Keir Starmer’s government.

Officials are clear that it will not last. “The boats will come and numbers are likely to continue rising,” says Lucy Moreton of the ISU union that represents Border Force staff. “There are a large number of people in France wanting to make that crossing. The demand is there and there’s no suggestion that it will stop any time soon.”