Launch a new Border Security Command
30%
Launch a new Border Security Command with hundreds of new specialist investigators and use counter-terror powers to smash criminal boat gangs.
The Border Security Command was launched in July 2024 and legislation passed in December 2025. However, small boat Channel crossings rose 13% to approximately 41,500 in 2025 — the second-highest annual figure on record. A returns agreement with France was signed in July 2025, with 354 people returned by March 2026 (around 2% of arrivals).
Recruit Border Force Command leader
100%
Martin Hewitt was appointed as Border Security Commander in September 2024. He coordinates the work of intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.
Prepare bill
100%
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act received Royal Assent in December 2025, granting expanded counter-terror style powers to tackle organised immigration crime.
References
- Cooper sets out plan to tackle small boat crossingsRetrieved: 07 July 2024
- Yvette Cooper Twitter postRetrieved: 07 July 2024
- Beauty salons and car washes to be targeted in illegal immigration blitz as Home Secretary redeploys Rwanda scheme staffRetrieved: 21 July 2024
- Labour promised to scrap the Rwanda policy. But its new approach aims to be just as tough on asylum seekersRetrieved: 22 July 2024
- Has the government created a new Border Security Command? - Full FactRetrieved: April 2026
- Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 - UK ParliamentRetrieved: April 2026
- People crossing the English Channel in small boats - Migration ObservatoryRetrieved: April 2026
- Labour's pledges on migration: the data - Migration ObservatoryRetrieved: April 2026
- Statistics on small boat Channel crossings - House of Commons LibraryRetrieved: April 2026