A new contract has revealed the British Labour government doesn’t believe its own rhetoric on illegal migration, and that Channel crossings will go unstopped for at least another ten years.
Prime minister Keir Starmer has described stopping the small boats—by “smashing the gangs” rather than deterring the migrants themselves—as a priority. Yet the Home Office is now seeking commercial partners to run two large facilities that will receive and process illegal migrants from January 2026, potentially until 2036.
Leading Conservative MP Neil O’Brien said the move “suggests [Labour] are not exactly confident about stopping the boats.” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage went a step further, insisting that “Starmer has no intention of stopping the boats.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that bidding companies are being offered £521 million (€623 million) for up to six years, with an option to extend the contract for up to four more 12-month periods. Labour might not even be in power once this time is up.
Party figures said in defence that a six-year contract offered by the previous Conservative government cost more (£700 million, or €837 million) and didn’t include a break clause, like the new one. Not that Britain’s borders are at all likely to be secured before the contract is up, anyway.
Rather than receiving and processing illegal migrants, the economically left-leaning and culturally traditional Social Democratic Party argued that “we should be rejecting, detaining and repatriating.”
It was also revealed at the beginning of this month that ministers aren’t planning on ending hotel spaces for illegal migrants—costing the taxpayer £4.2 million (€5.05 million) every day—for up to three years, if not more.
This should help Britain to hold on to the title of “illegal migration capital of Europe” for some time yet. More than 27,000 illegals have crossed the Channel to Britain already this year.
