Labour 'set to strike Italy-style migrant deals' in new bid to stop small boat Channel crossings
17 November 2024, 00:06
Labour are preparing a series of deals with countries like Kurdistan and Vietnam to deter migrants from crossing into Britain illegally, reports claim.
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wants to emulate deals that Italy struck with countries which sees millions given to incentivise them doing more to stop small boats.
Ms Cooper is discussing deals with Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region of Iraq, Turkey, and Vietnam, according to the Sunday Times.
The deal comes after Sir Keir Starmer met Italian PM Giorgia Meloni in Rome weeks ago.
Ms Meloni's right-wing government has succeeded in reducing the number of migrants reaching Italy.
Her interior ministry has reported a 62 per cent fall in arrivals over the first seven months of 2024.
A source told the Sunday Times: “The assessment made after that trip was that Kurdistani nationals monopolise every part of the journey made by small boat migrants from the procuring of the craft to putting people on the boats on the beaches in France.”
More than 33,000 people have made the crossing from France into Britain on small boats in 2024 so far.
The total is the second-highest yearly number of arrivals.
The year has also been the deadliest on record.
68 people are known to have lost their lives in the Channel since January 1.
