Labour will offer to take in more migrants from the EU in return for a new borders deal with Brussels, it emerged last night.
Sir Keir Starmer will launch his party’s immigration plan today with a pledge to ‘smash’ the criminal gangs responsible for smuggling thousands of migrants across the Channel.
He will also commit Labour to a deal with the EU that could allow the UK to return some migrants who are deemed to have no claim here.
But Labour sources revealed that in return, Sir Keir is willing to open negotiations about joining an EU ‘burden sharing’ system designed to relocate hundreds of thousands of migrants who land in Greece, Italy and other countries.
The controversial move could see the UK obliged to find homes for thousands of migrants who cross the Mediterranean in search of a new life in Europe.
Labour sources said the idea was at an ‘early stage’ and declined to say how many people could be involved. But a government source said that if the system was calculated on a population basis, the UK could have been asked to take more than 120,000 of the one million migrants who landed in the EU last year.
The source added: ‘Finally, we get to see Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for illegal migration – he’ll make it legal. He’ll ignore the will of the British people to cut numbers, and instead cut a deal with the EU that would commit us to taking our ‘fair share’ of however many illegal migrants enter Europe each year.
‘That number was nearly one million people last year and is projected to rise this year.
‘No wonder Starmer has tried to keep his plan a secret from the public – it’s open borders by the back door.’
In an interview with The Times last night, Sir Keir confirmed that a Labour government would seek an EU-wide returns deal, saying: ‘We effectively exited the returns agreement we were in and have never replaced it.’
Asked if in order to secure the deal, he would accept the ‘quid pro quo’ of migrant quotas – with Brussels planning to make each member state take at least 30,000 people a year – he replied: ‘That would be part of any discussions and negotiations with Europe.’
Sir Keir also claimed Labour would treat people smugglers like terrorists. He proposed using serious crime prevention orders – to restrict individuals’ movements and freeze their assets – against them.
Sir Keir and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper travelled to The Hague last night ahead of talks at Europol today designed to underline Labour’s commitment to tackling the criminal gangs on an international basis.
