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A Labour minister was challenged on Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash the gangs” trafficking migrants to the UK as the numbers crossing the Channel on small boats continues to go up.
More than 900 asylum seekers have made the perilous journey in recent days.
That includes 609 on Thursday alone – thought to be a record-breaking number for a winter’s day.
On Sky News this morning, border security minister Angela Eagle was put on the spot by presenter Trevor Phillips.
He asked her: “What happened to smashing the gangs? They seem resolutely unsmashed.”
Eagle said the gangs were using “very sophisticated supply lines all the way through European countries” to get migrants into the UK.
She added: “I’m not going to sit here. Trevor, and say that when you’re presented with something that’s this well established and this sophisticated that I can get out a magic wand and wave it and it will all be ok in five months.
“This is a tough job. It will take time to do it. It will take good operational co-operation [and] good cross-border policing.”
Phillips then asked how long it would be before the numbers start to come down.
Eagle replied: “I’m not going to sit here and give you a date. We’ve had governments that have given dates and figures about getting immigration down to the tens of thousands and then quadrupled it, so I don’t think people want a date snatched out of the air that nobody is confident that they can meet.
“What they want is to see steady, regular progress and that’s what we’re going to give them.”
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