I advised Starmer on his plan to ‘stop the boats’. This is why Labour’s policy will work

‘There were no small boats recorded before 2018, but they exploded to tens of thousands since 2020’ … People arriving in Dover on a Border Force vessel on 26 September 2023. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

The prime minister’s pledge to “stop the boats” has become an easy target for ridicule. Small boats continue to cross the English Channel in near record numbers. More than 20,000 people have arrived on Britain’s shores this year, with up to 500 people (sometimes more) arriving on any given day. In fact, the only boat that has been stopped is the Bibby Stockholm barge, commissioned to house asylum seekers, after legionella was found in its water system – a perfect symbol for the disastrous handling of this crisis.

It couldn’t be clearer that the government’s plans aren’t working. Only weeks after saying the Illegal Immigration Act will stop the boats, the home secretary, Suella Braverman, claimed yesterday that the United Nations refugee convention needs to be rewritten for the asylum system to work.