French police have been photographed standing by as a small boat filled with migrants sets off across the Channel.
Around a dozen officers, some of whom had riot shields and batons, were seen at the water’s edge on a beach in Gravelines in Normandy.
The beach is a popular launching point for migrants who often hide in the nearby sand dunes for days before attempting the crossing.
Migrants have previously told The Telegraph they would travel to the UK “as soon as possible” following Labour’s victory.
Figures showed that 484 migrants have reached the UK since Sir Keir Starmer was elected with a landslide 172-seat majority and scrapped Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation scheme on day one of his Government.
Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey in six boats on Tuesday, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058.
That is 10 per cent higher than the number recorded this time last year (12,772) and up six per cent on the same period in 2022 (13,318), according to government data.
Reacting to the figures, Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, said that scrapping the Rwanda policy without a plan was “sheer stupidity”.
He added: “‘Smash the gangs?’ Sir Keir has surrendered to the people smugglers.”
It comes as Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, announced the establishment of a new Border Security Command.
Work to recruit a leader to head the body is underway, with the Government preparing a bill to create counter-terror powers aimed at tackling organised immigration crime.
The Home Office says the command leader – expected to be appointed within weeks – would draw together the work of intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.
Ms Cooper said Labour would “tackle the root of the problem” by targeting the criminal smuggling gangs “making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk”.
The home secretary also said she would commission an investigation into the routes, methods and tactics used by people-smuggling gangs to help inform her approach.
Speaking in Washington, where he is attending the Nato Summit, Sir Keir said: “This a command that will lead on smashing the gangs and as I’ve said many times before, having been myself part of operations that have taken down gangs – police and prosecutors across borders gathering evidence and intelligence, sharing data, having an arrest strategy, a prosecution strategy, an evidence strategy has successfully brought down many gangs, including terrorist gangs.
“I do not accept these are the only gangs that can’t be brought down.”
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