Sir Keir Starmer has said 24,000 people have been returned since Labour took power as he opened the government’s border security summit.
The PM said those returned “have no right to be here” and said it was the “highest return rates for eight years”.
Since Labour took office, 29,884 people have been detected crossing the Channel on 542 small boats
Interior ministers and law enforcement from more than 40 countries are at the meeting in central London.
Meta, X and TikTok representatives are also there to discuss how to tackle the online promotion of illegal migration.
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme the summit is necessary because illegal migration is a “global problem”.
She also called the summit “unprecedented”, with countries from all over the world participating, including the US, Vietnam, Iraq and France.
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Early on Monday morning, Ms Cooper announced £30m will go towards funding “high impact operations” by the Border Security Command (BSC) to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Western Balkans, Asia and Africa.
An additional £3m will be provided to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to increase its capacity to prosecute organised international smugglers and to support the BSC to pursue and arrest those responsible for people smuggling operations.
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