UK will pay foreign prosecutors to hunt down people-smugglers

Sir Keir Starmer will tell the first summit on illegal immigration that he will set up an international unit of the Crown Prosecution Service

Migrants board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel. Picture: AFP

Britain will pay foreign prosecutors to hunt down people-smugglers across the world, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is to ­announce as he hosts more than 40 countries at a landmark illegal migration summit.

Sir Keir will announce £33m ($68m) of funding to help set up an international unit of the Crown Prosecution Service that will target the criminal gangs that facilitate illegal routes into Europe and the UK. He plans to emulate the approach he used to combat international Islamist terrorism when he led the CPS as director of public prosecutions. Sir Keir is facing growing pressure as a record 6642 migrants have crossed the English Channel in 119 boats so far this year – 43 per cent higher than the number by this point last year. More than 4000 have arrived this month alone.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, appeared to blame the weather for the record numbers. “The really unacceptable situation that we’re in is because of the way the criminal gangs have taken hold, our border security ends up being dependent on the weather,” she said. “We cannot continue like this, where the number of calm days affects the number of crossings and affects our border security as well.”

Home Office sources said there had been significantly more “red days” this year, the term used when Border Force expects large numbers of crossings because of calmer conditions in the Channel. There have already been 42 “red days” compared to 17 by this time last year.

Ministers are hoping that crossings will slow when the French begin deploying officers from a specialist policing unit trained in tackling public disorder to target smuggling gangs on their coastline. This will be funded by the UK.

However, new figures published by the Home Office have revealed the scale of the challenge as migrants are increasingly using the UK’s visa system as a back door to claiming asylum.

A total of 40,000 asylum claims last year were lodged by migrants who arrived in the UK legally on a visa, compared with 35,000 claims from small boat ­migrants. Of the 40,000 claims, 40 per cent were lodged by foreign students, 29 per cent came on work visas, 24 per cent on a visitor visa and the remaining 7 per cent had other forms of leave. Almost 10,000 visa-holders who claimed asylum were given taxpayer-funded accommodation, including hotels, at some point last year. Pakistani, Nigerian and Sri Lankan migrants are the most common nationalities of visa-holders who claimed asylum.

Asylum claims from visa-holders have risen significantly. They accounted for 20 per cent of asylum claims in 2023, but 37 per cent last year.

British investigators will supply information on smuggling in the target countries to the CPS. International liaison officers will then co-ordinate with the country’s prosecutors to help bring and secure prosecutions.

The support will particularly be aimed at French prosecutors, who work differently to those in the UK and face the most smuggling activity.

In France, prosecutors decide whether to launch investigations, unlike in Britain where it is up to police forces or the NCA. Investigations are conducted under the authority of judges and prosecutors, and decisions about resources, covert surveillance, arrests and searches have to be authorised by them.

Patrick Stevens, who led the international division of the CPS under Starmer, said the plans were an effective and cost-effective way to tackle organised crime.

He said: “Criminals go where there is profit to be made and the risks are low, so it’s important to increase the risk of detection. You can’t stop all crime, but the numbers we’ve seen being transported by criminal gangs is based on it being profitable and relatively risk-free, so if you can increase the risk and make it unprofitable then you can change the game.”

Explaining the lessons he and Starmer learned at the CPS, he said: “What we realised is, in a lot of countries around the world, prosecutors and judges are the most influential part of the system. In the French system, for example, it’s within the gift of prosecutors and judges, not investigators, to work with us.

“Ensuring the NCA have a prosecutor alongside them to liaise with the local prosecutor, especially where local capacity is strong, can oil the wheels and improve our ability to jointly investigate and prosecute.”

Stevens added: “When you do this well, when you have not only operational credibility but also diplomatic skills, real change is possible. I have seen the impact it can have. And, at a time of spending challenges, this work is relatively inexpensive.”

The Times