English Channel: Illegal Small Boat Crossings

Part of Home Department – in the House of Commons at on 29 July 2024.

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Photo of Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper The Secretary of State for the Home Department

The hon. Member will know that these boat crossings are extremely dangerous. Another woman died in the channel yesterday, and criminal gangs are deliberately cramming boats to maximise their profits. They have been getting away with it for far too long. That is why we need the new border security command. It is also why we need to work not simply with the French police, but with police forces and organisations right across Europe and beyond, to pursue the gangs and prevent the boats from leaving the French coast in the first place.