Eagle: People-smuggling gangs must be stopped even with ‘whack-a-mole’ approach
Dame Angela Eagle was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if the Government’s plans on people smuggling go far enough.
Having to take a “whack-a-mole” approach to tackling people smuggling is no reason not to try and prevent criminal gangs, a Home Office minister has said.
Asked whether the Government’s plans on people smuggling go far enough and whether they have an approach akin to the fairground game, Dame Angela Eagle told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Just because you have to play whack-a-mole, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to take down organised immigration crime and disrupt the people that are putting people’s lives at risk in the Channel for huge amounts of money.”
She added: “It’s important that our new border security command works operationally across borders with our colleagues in Europe to disrupt cross-border smuggling and that’s what we’re going to do.”
The comments come as Germany pledged to tighten its law to make it easier to prosecute people smugglers enabling Channel crossings to Britain, as part of a new deal signed between the two countries on tackling immigration crime.
Berlin has confirmed plans to reform its legal framework to make it a clear criminal offence to “facilitate the smuggling of migrants to the UK” as part of the agreement, the Home Office said.
