In recent years there has been growing concern about the numbers of migrants and asylum seekers coming to the UK via illegal methods, particularly by small boats across the English Channel.
More than 19,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year – a 10% increase on last year but a fall from the peak of more than 21,000 in the same period in 2022.
The previous Conservative government tried to reduce numbers through its Rwanda scheme which would have deported migrants to the east African country.
On being elected in July, the Labour government immediately scrapped this plan, labelling it a “gimmick”.
It said it instead wanted to focus on stopping the criminal gangs that arrange for people to make the crossings and speeding up the process of returning those with no legal right to be in the UK.
The government has now announced that 100 new specialist intelligence officers and investigators will be deployed to the National Crime Agency (NCA) to “disrupt and smash criminal smuggling gangs and prevent dangerous boat crossings”.
The officers will work in the UK and across Europe, with some undercover and others targeting the supply of inflatable boats and equipment.
The NCA currently has around 70 active investigations into people smuggling and trafficking groups.
The government also says it will redeploy staff to work on returning failed asylum seekers and increase sanctions against employers who hire workers illegally.
Other measures announced by the government include increasing capacity at detention centres, by reopening the Campsfield and Haslar sites in Oxfordshire and Hampshire .
Haslar, near Portsmouth, was closed in 2015 after a report described it as “expensive and damaging to detainees”.
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