Home Office launches campaign to tackle migrant boats crisis

A hard-hitting Home Office campaign will warn people in Albania not to attempt a Channel crossing in a small boat.

Potential illegal migrants will be told they face being detained and deported if they come to the UK.

The campaign will feature images of people on a crowded boat and make clear just how dangerous the journeys are.

Albania is the first country to be targeted but it will be rolled out in other territories.

This comes as Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick visits Algeria, Tunisia, Italy and France in a bid to tackle migration challenges and “stop the boats”.

Under a deal announced last week, hundreds of Albanian prisoners will be sent home for British help to modernise the country’s prison system.

Mr Jenrick said: “Organised immigration crime is a global challenge which requires international solutions the whole way along the migration route. That includes working proactively at source before people set off on dangerous and unnecessary journeys.

“We are determined to stop the boats and the campaign, launching in Albania this week, is just one component of the Home Office’s work upstream to help dispel myths  about illegal travel to the UK, explain the realities, and combat the lies pedalled by evil people-smugglers who profit from this vile trade.”

He said: “This is yet another pointless campaign that shows ministers refuse to understand that a small minority of the world’s refugees have very powerful reasons to come here. It also repeats the myth that refugee migration is illegal when in fact a person’s right to enter a country to claim asylum is protected by a refugee convention we helped create.

“If the Government wanted to smash the smuggling gangs and stop people crossing the Channel in flimsy boats it would create more safe routes for refugees to travel here to claim asylum.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It beggars belief that as Channel crossings continue to rise and the asylum system is in chaos, all the Conservatives can come up with to stop the criminal gangs is an ad campaign.

“At every turn, the Tories so-called solutions fail to meet the scale of the crisis. All they are doing is tinkering at the edges. Labour has a clear plan for a cross-border police unit, fast-tracking to clear the backlog and a proper deal with France on safe returns.”