live from london, this is bbc news. israel's prime minister vows to press ahead keir starmer is about to set out his party's plans keir starmer is about to set out his pa rty�*s plans to keir starmer is about to set out his party's plans to deal with people setting to arriving across the english channel in small boats. the uk is out of recession after figures showed that the economy is growing again. the duke and duchess of sussex arrive in nigeria for a three—day visit to the country. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. let's ta ke let's take you straight to abuja in nigeria. prince harry is speaking.

indistinct it is invisible, something you can't see. every single person in this room, the youngest, the oldest, has lost somebody. this is the way it works. there is no shame in being able to acknowledge this. 0k?

no shame in being able to acknowledge this. ok? you woke up this morning feeling sad. you were at school, feeling stressed. you've lost a loved one. every single one of those things is completely normal. it is a human reaction, whether it is grief, stress, or all of those things that people experience. if you take anything away from today, just know that mental health... we anything away from today, “ust know that mental health. . ._ that mental health... we are going to leave that _ that mental health... we are going to leave that in _ that mental health... we are going to leave that in nigeria, _ that mental health... we are going to leave that in nigeria, apologiesl to leave that in nigeria, apologies for the poor sound quality on the feed we were getting. as you heard a

little bit, that was prince harry and he was accompanied by his wife, meghan markle. they are on a visit to nigeria and this is also part of the work that he does on the invictus games. we will be back with that, as and when we need to be. the leader of the uk's main opposition labour party is in dover, when he is about to give details on how he will tackle people smugglers and deal with people arriving across the english channel on small boats. he will promise to make british shores hostile territory for criminal gangs by setting up a new border command. it will partly funded using £75 million earmarked for the government policy of sending some asylum seekers to rwanda. we will bring you that speech as soon as it happens. it is due to start

any time now. for the moment, let's speak to our political correspondent, harry farley. you are watching us from westminster. as we get nearer to that general election here in the uk, the issue of the small boat crossings becomes more and more on the agenda. what are we expecting sir keir starmer to say? that is right, rajini, i think we are going to see a clear dividing line between the approach labour would take if it was elected, and what the conservatives are saying they were to do. what keir starmer will set out today is, as you say, a new border security command, a new unit which he says will bring in immigration enforcement, bring in mis, will immigration enforcement, bring in mi5, will bring in other agencies, and give them extra powers, powers that normally belong to counterterror policing, give them extra powers to do things like

closed bank accounts, do extra stop and search, and essentially what labour are saying is that you need a law enforcement approach to tackle the small boats crisis. now, the conservatives say that is all well and good, but you also need a deterrent. and that is the rwanda scheme, they argue that by saying anyone who arrives in the uk on a small boat will be flown to rwanda, that will deter people from making the crossing. labour, and we will hear from the crossing. labour, and we will hearfrom sir keir starmer the crossing. labour, and we will hear from sir keir starmer this morning, there is the argument that says that is a gimmick. it will only apply to a few hundred people, labour will argue, and it ultimately will not offer that deterrent. i think we can see a really clear dividing line between the two parties, between the approaches they will take. laboursaying parties, between the approaches they will take. labour saying they would scrap the rwanda scheme and instead use the money, as you said, to put into this new border security command, that would have the extra powers to go after the people smuggling gangs. james cleverly, the

home secretary, saying that is not enough, and that you also need a deterrent. he argues the rwanda policy will provide that. it's worth saying, as we know, no flights to rwanda have taken off. the government was hoping to get the first flights injuly. the government was hoping to get the first flights in july.— first flights in july. the question is, how different _ first flights in july. the question is, how different is _ first flights in july. the question is, how different is what - first flights in july. the question is, how different is what sir - first flights in july. the question is, how different is what sir keir starmer is likely to set out to what is already in place?— is already in place? well, what are james cleverly. — is already in place? well, what are james cleverly, the _ is already in place? well, what are james cleverly, the home - is already in place? well, what are i james cleverly, the home secretary, argues is that the government was doing a lot of what labour say they will do. labour, on the other hand, say they would boost a lot of the powers to tackle people smuggling gangs. they say they would work more closely with the french, in particular, and with other european countries, to try to tackle the people smuggling gangs at source. so they say that is the approach that ultimately breaks the business model

of the people smuggling gangs and that it will actually be the thing that it will actually be the thing that stops the boats. the government are arguing that they are doing that already and... i are arguing that they are doing that already and- - -_ are arguing that they are doing that already and... i am going to have to sto ou already and... i am going to have to step you there. _ already and... i am going to have to stop you there, the _ already and... i am going to have to stop you there, the leader - already and... i am going to have to stop you there, the leader of - already and... i am going to have to stop you there, the leader of the . stop you there, the leader of the labour party, sir keir starmer, is taking to the stage. applause thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you for those words. what a fantastic campaign you are running. thank you, natalie, fantastic to be in your constituency. welcome to the labour party. it's so great to have you on—board. yvette, thank you for notjust you on—board. yvette, thank you for not just your words, you on—board. yvette, thank you for notjust your words, but you on—board. yvette, thank you for not just your words, but all of the work you have done over such a period of on this important proof, this important challenge. it's great to be here on a sunny day in kent, the garden of england. i used to play football around here for years.

the uncompromising, no—nonsense, hard knocks training school of the kent boys league. so i'm very familiar with this part of the world. after the elections last week, i have to say, it is a part of the world that the tories are increasingly unfamiliar with. a county notjust green and pleasant, but now also turning red. by the way, on a day like this, i am really sorry we are doing this indoors. but we will be out there too long. today, we are here on serious business. because this is a community on the front line of one of the gravest challenges we face as a nation. illegal migration is a test of seriousness for all governments and would—be governments. notjust here, right across the world. a simple, as i said in my conference speech last

year, of a said in my conference speech last year, ofa more said in my conference speech last year, of a more volatile world, and a drop in security. it's a really hard nut to crack. i'm not going to pretend otherwise. tackling organised crime is always hard. especially across borders. now, i know that from my work at the crown prosecution service, on drug smuggling or counterterrorism operations. and let's be clear at the start, this is a criminal enterprise we are dealing with. a business that pits nation against nation, that thrives in the grey areas of our rules, the cracks between our institutions, where they believe they can exploit some of the most vulnerable people in the world with impunity. a vile trade that preys on the desperation and the hope it finds in its victims. the

common humanity that it ultimately seeks to extinguish. not so long ago, back in 2016, i went for myself to visit the refugee camps on the outskirts of calais. it was winter. i think it was february. it was absolutely freezing. the ground was sodden with rain and human waste. i saw children there, too mexico in particular in my mind, who were the same age as my children. back then, that was aged five and seven. huddling together, in a tent that offered almost nothing in the way of warmth. a desperate situation. then i went home and said good night to my children, the same age, each in their own bedroom, with the central heating on. and i came away from that day profoundly depressed. and i would defy anybody to go into those camps and come away with any other

reaction. that camp represented a monumentalfailure reaction. that camp represented a monumental failure across nations. people had been brutally let down by governments, notjust in terms of awful conditions, but because the failure of our asylum system had encouraged a false hope, a hope that had unequivocally made those people more vulnerable to exploitation. gangs were hovering around that camp that day, when i went, using it as a jobcentre for modern slavery. that particular camp has gone. at the smuggling business remains. the exploitation remains. the peril, as yvette said, children dying in our waters. just three weeks ago, a seven—year—old girl, the same age as one of the children i saw in that camp, that all remains. no matter

how good anyone thinks their intentions are, turning a blind eye to this business, not understanding how important a rules—based asylum system is for tackling that exploitation, for removing the criminal business model, if you like. that is not a progressive and compassionate position, it is the complete opposite of a regressive and compassionate position. this problem must be tackled. these gangs must be stopped. 0ur asylum system must be stopped. 0ur asylum system must be stopped. 0ur asylum system must be rebuilt, our borders must be secured. but, to do that, to finally grip this problem, we need to turn the page and move on from an unhealthy interest in gesture politics that has long defined this policy area. which has dragged the tories, as a serious party of government, onto the rocks of their own delusion. let

me give you a few examples of what i mean by gesture politics. september, 2020. the sun newspaper reports that the government is exploring the procurement of yamaha jet skis. the plan, allegedly, to patrol the english channel and tow boats containing asylum seekers back to france. 0ctober, containing asylum seekers back to france. october, 2020. the financial times reports that the government is undertaking a secret consultation with the maritime industry. the plan, this time, constructing floating walls or maritime fencing to block small boats. and, presumably, the busiest shipping lane in the world, all of the boats. december 2020, chris philp, then the immigration minister, the home affairs select committee, in front of yvette, refusing to rule out the use of wave machines to blow back the boats, a policy that by then had

somehow managed to find its way into the newspapers. i could go on. there is plenty more material. sonic weapons, various deployments of the royal navy, against advice and with little success. the list is endless. yet here we are. 0ver little success. the list is endless. yet here we are. over 8000 people have made the perilousjourney across the channel in small boats this year. on track to surpass the record set in 2022. i want to be clear, i'm not criticising the reporting here. if a government source tells you it is going to build a wall in the english channel, you'd better believe that is a story. but the question this record must raise is whether the latest gimmick, the rwanda scheme, can really be taken as a serious solution to this important challenge. i don't think so. they

will get flights off the ground, i don't doubt that. but i also don't doubt that this will not work. a policy that will see just a few hundred people removed to rwanda per year, less than 1% of the people who cross the sea in small boats every year, less than 1%, for £600 million. that is neither an effective deterrent or a good use of your money. and then you look at the rest of our border system. honestly, it's like a sieve. just the other day, the home office admitted that it has lost track of thousands of people working have no right to be here. and yet still, the government must grow refuses to do anything and focus all of its time and energy propping up rwanda, throwing good money after bad, hoping it will get a few flights with a couple of hundred migrants off the ground, because it is symbolic for party

management, for the election. it's gesture politics. £600 million for a few hundred removed. that is gesture politics. britain can do better, labour will do better, we will end this farce, restore our borders, tackle the problem at source and replaced the rwanda policy permanently. day, we launch our plan to do that. a new approach to small boat crossing that will secure britain's borders, prevent the exploitation by tackling it upstream and crush the criminal smuggling gangs. as the first step, a new manifesto commitment. we will set up a new command with new powers, new resources and a new way of doing

things, bordersecurity resources and a new way of doing things, border security command. this is about leveraging the power and potential of dynamic government, based on a counterterrorism approach which we know works. an end to the fragmentation between policing, the border force and our intelligence agencies. a collecting of the standards. so that the border protection becomes an elite force, not a cinderella service. an essential front—line defence that communities like this can depend upon. to do all of that, border security command will bring together hundreds of specialist investigators, the best of the best, from the national crime agency, the border force, immigration enforcement, the crown prosecution service and, yes, m15. all working to a single mission, all freed from the cloying bureaucracy that so often prevents collaboration between different institutions. i've seen

this first—hand at the crown prosecution service, many times. good ambition is never enough on its own. but i've seen how, with determination, with leadership, with single—minded focus, agencies can work together and to results. —— deliver results. and notjust in one country, either. we can cooperate across borders. and that is not some kind of weakness. it is absolutely essential. these criminals do not respect national borders. i mean, when i was at the crown prosecution service, we had prosecutors posted in pakistan, working on counterterrorism operations. in the caribbean, on smuggling. in west africa, disrupting the flow of drugs coming from south america, on their way to europe and, ultimately, to britain. and these operations are not easy. just think about

conducting a raid, i've been through this so many times, i've seen it in real time, this so many times, i've seen it in realtime, if this so many times, i've seen it in real time, if you have pooled all the intelligence in one place, if you have spent weeks, months, years, mapping out the patterns of criminal activity, bringing in prosecutors to help assess the vital evidence, then you cannot have your raid in london going off a single minute earlier or later than the coordinating raid in paris. so, yes, we need more cooperation on illegal migration. we need a new partnership with europol. we need access to real—time intelligence sharing networks that are so crucial to our security. and which the government so casually threw away as part of its botched wreck the deal. that's why i've already been to the hague with yvette, to start pushing for a new security pact with our european

partners. but, look, it is also my firm belief, based on years of experience in this area, that we also need new and stronger powers to bring these vile criminals to justice. in some areas of criminal activity, counter terrorism is most obvious, we have that the crime justifies tougher measures. make no mistake, we have reached that moment with illegal migration. these vile people smugglers are no better than terrorists. they are a threat to our national security and a threat to life. and it's time we treated them as such. that means new powers that, as such. that means new powers that, as with would—be terrorists, can be used free conviction with high court approval, that can limit the ability of the gangs to conduct their vile business before arrest. powers that will allow us to shut off internet

access, close their bank accounts, trace their movements using information provided by the intelligence services. 0r powers like stop and search at the border, or raiding and seizing evidence before an offence has taken place. let me explain why. because we use the term small boats. but the boats are not, for the most part, that's all. the gangs now use dinghies that are on a scale way beyond anything you would see for legitimate recreational activity. and we should be working with european partners to seize those boats, sees material here in the uk, to collect further evidence. turn over every stone, use every reasonable power. that is my message to the smugglers. these shores will become hostile territory for you. we will find you, we will stop you, we will protect your

victims with the border security command, we will secure britain borders. applause and we will also rebuild britain's broken asylum system. as i said at the beginning, i believe in a rules—based asylum system. i believe a system that processes claims quickly and humanely, and that finds ways, without squeamishness or cruelty, to detain and remove people who have no right to be here, is essential for security, fairness and justice. it is a form of deterrence in itself, because until the scene around the world as a country that has a firm grip of the process of our border, until we are busting the home office backlog, arriving at

decisions quickly, without a fuss, so we can return people who have no right to be here, then, yes, britain will be seen as a soft touch. and it goes without saying, we do not have that effective deterrence at our borders at the moment. 0ur rules—based asylum system is not working. ask anyone in this part of the world. that much is obvious. so, it's not hard to see why the prime minister might want a path to deterrent without the hard graft, the boring draft, perhaps, of fixing the boring draft, perhaps, of fixing the wider system. but i'm afraid, like so much of what he says these days, it is magical thinking. a symbol of the unquenchable tory desire for the short cut, the easy fix, the sticking plaster. gimmicks, not serious government. let me spell it out again. a scheme that will remove less than 1% of arrivals from

small boat crossings each year cannot and never will be an effective deterrent. it's an insult to anyone's intelligence. and the gangs that run this sick trade are not easily fooled. in fact, by allowing vast numbers of people into the country via this route, running up the country via this route, running up a permanent backlog of nearly 100,000 people, refusing to process the claims, so that even if they have absolutely no right to be here, they cannot be removed. billing the taxpayer for expensive hotel accommodation because, like hotel california, there is no prospect of ever leaving. no prospect of a decision for or against. let me be clear, the government has achieved the complete opposite of what they claim. a travel lodge amnesty, handed out by the tory party, and thatis handed out by the tory party, and that is warmer and safer than

spending winter under canvas near a beachin spending winter under canvas near a beach in northern france. and if you don't think that is what the gangs are telling the people they exploit, you've never met one of these gangs. so, no, we have to restore integrity and rules to our asylum system. we have to clear the backlog so that we can return people swiftly. that is the path, the only path to real deterrence. that is why we will hire hundreds of new caseworkers for the home office, and we will do it straightaway. we will create a new fast—track returns on enforcement unit that will make sure the courts can process claims quickly, and we will save taxpayers billions. the e8 will save taxpayers billions. the £8 million we spend every day on hotels, the £8 million a day message that tory chaos has a cost. labour will stop the chaos, they will bust the backlogs, we will rebuild our

broken asylum system. applause now, these plans will be fiercely resisted. 0f now, these plans will be fiercely resisted. of course they will. that is par for the course on this issue. i have no doubt that the british people fully support a rules—based asylum system. no doubt that the fair—minded majority want a system that can secure britain's borders and uphold this country's fine tradition of providing sanctuary for people fleeing persecution. but this is a debate that has been captured ljy is a debate that has been captured by polarising voices. so every solution must run a gauntlet of bad faith objections just to get a hearing. it comes from people who claim they want to reform the asylum

system, but, infact, claim they want to reform the asylum system, but, in fact, they want to get rid of it. people who believe, based on their principles, that people should be able to move across the globe, wherever, however they want, no matter that in this age of insecurity especially that it would lead to chaos and, apart from any other objections, it does nothing to advance globaljustice. meanwhile, advance global justice. meanwhile, on advance globaljustice. meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, some people pretend they want to reform asylum. what they really want is for the british state to act with impunity, care of rules on a whim —— tear up the rules on a whim, because ultimately they don't want us to take any asylum seekers whatsoever. i don't think there are many tories that truly believe that. but what i do think is that they are too weak to admit that plainly, too weak to say that this is not, and never should be a world we live in.

because britain should show leadership on global issues that drive insecurity and migration. britain should step up to tackle climate change, famine and conflict. we do have a duty to work with other nations. underthe we do have a duty to work with other nations. under the state should not have unlimited power against minorities or anyone. 0ur rules—based system should align with global rules that protect individual human rights. that is in our interests and the right thing to do. applause and so, rebuilding our asylum system has become a test of political strength. a trial of leadership to resist the voices who fundamentally do not want to build a functioning asylum system. a question, can you prioritise at all times the politics

of practical solutions? and can you reject the politics of performative symbols? the gimmicks on the gestures? no, this is the story of what has happened to this government. the explanation of how a party that cares about illegal migration, and there is no doubt about that, finds itself with a record of failure as total and stark as this. it isn'tjust drunken competence. though it is that. —— it isn'tjust rank incompetence. it is about who the tories are now. it's also about our politics as a whole. culture that is part of the water in westminster, that rewards the grand gesture, the big talker, while disregarding the details, practical action that, over time, disregarding the details, practical action that, overtime, moves disregarding the details, practical action that, over time, moves a nation forward step by step. take northern ireland. because, in my lifetime, there is no more powerful

example than that. and i was there, in the room, helping to create a police service that could work for all communities. trying to move a nation slowly but surely towards the hard work, the long work, the patient work of real change. i don't want to stretch that analogy too much but it is what the hard graft of change needs and it is about tackling the issue of small boats. if i am to serve this country and if i urge that privilege i will turn the page on the westminster talk tough, do nothing culture, not just on small boats, migration, but on everything. and i do not know if