Labour would undo the progress that the Government has made on stopping small boats crossing the Channel if it got into power, according to health minister Maria Caulfield.
Her comments came as GB News revealed that seven migrant boats have crossed the Channel so far today, carrying some 300 people.
Caulfield said during PMQs Live on GB News: “It’s clear that while Keir Starmer was criticising the Rwanda plan, he doesn’t actually have a plan of his own.
“I think he uses that to detract from the fact that while we’ve seen a reduction in the number of small boats crossings, the lowest number in six years, Labour had been pretty clear that if they come into government, they will scrap all the progress that we’re making, we’ll be back to square one with a rise and an increase in the number of illegal crossings.”
In a discussion with Christopher Hope and Gloria De Piero, she continued: “The Rwanda plan is only one small part of our plans to tackle small boats and actually we’re already doing much of what the Labour Party claim is their plan.
“We are already processing claims, we’ve cleared the backlog, there’s only about 4% left of that backlog. We are tackling criminal gangs, and thousands have been investigated as part of that.
“And we are stopping the crossings. We’ve returned over 26,000 people. We’re already doing that work.”
Labour’s Shadow Culture Minister Stephanie Peacock countered: “We’ve been very clear we’ve got a plan. We’re going to tackle the criminal gangs – that’s why people are getting on the boats in the first place.
“We’re going to set up a new police unit. We’re going to recruit 1,000 caseworkers to process people and send them back where they’re not eligible. We’ve got a plan and it’s clear that this Rwanda scheme is simply unworkable.
“The Supreme Court has said only 100 People are eligible to be sent to Rwanda. There’s 160,000 people in the backlog so I think it comes back to what works, I simply don’t think this does.”
She added: “The fact of the matter though is the Government has wasted nearly £400 million of taxpayers’ money and they have sent more cabinet ministers to Rwanda than they have migrants.
“It isn’t a workable plan and I just don’t think a lot of the public think it is.”
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