Keir Starmer’s grotesque, Reform-pandering, allegedly Labour government has plumbed fresh depths with its latest scheme to deter refugees. The Channel policing plan will see the UK hand over £662m to France in return for it beefing up border security.

The BBC‘s reporting actually tones down the language of the government’s own press release. The briefing, from the Border Security and Asylum section of the Communications Directorate uses language popularised during the US occupation of Iraq. It talks of a “surge of boots on the ground”. And it quotes Starmer saying:

This historic agreement means we can go further: ramping up intelligence, surveillance and boots on the ground to protect Britain’s borders.

The release boasts:

The 40% increase in boots on the ground will be deployed alongside state-of-the-art technology and a new riot police squad to bare down on small boat numbers.

We assume it meant to say “bear down”.

It also repeatedly uses the phrasing “illegal migrants”, despite there being no legal way of entering the country to claim asylum. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood, who goes about her job as if she’s trying to win a bet with Suella Braverman, manages to get the phrase in twice in three sentences:

Our work with the French has stopped tens of thousands of illegal migrants boarding boats headed to Britain.

But we must do more. This landmark deal will stop illegal migrants making the perilous journey and put people smugglers behind bars.

This horrific rhetoric has prompted support organisation Freedom from Torture to respond. Sile Reynolds, head of asylum advocacy at the group, said:

This is a deeply alarming escalation in the UK’s approach to border enforcement. Now, we will be paying for police boots and batons to be wielded indiscriminately against men, women and children on the beaches of northern France for the crime of seeking safety.

This UK-funded brutality will be unleashed on survivors of the most unimaginable horrors of torture and war, fleeing notorious conflict and persecution in Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and Somalia.

Many of the people who will be harmed by these heavy-handed tactics have already endured state violence during their flight from persecution. Survivors of torture have described to us how they were beaten, detained, denied food and water, and subjected to sexual abuse and enslavement during their journey to the UK.

Now they will face the full ferocity of the French riot police – a security body that has been criticised by the United Nations Committee Against Torture for excessive use of force, leading in some cases to serious injury and death.

99.5% of people who arrived in the UK by small boat last year claimed asylum and over 60% were recognised by the UK government as needing protection.

And yet this announcement says nothing about identifying vulnerability, providing routes to safety for those in need or ensuring that any aid, assistance or funding by the UK does not contribute to violations of international human rights law by the French state.

Shutting down refugee family reunion and returning survivors of torture and trafficking to France without even considering their claim for protection only increases the demand for small boat crossings.

If the government is serious about preventing dangerous journeys, it must expand safe routes to seek asylum in the UK and collaborate with the French to enhance maritime safety for those who continue to cross the Channel in search of protection.

Freedom from Torture’s considered words on the Channel policing announcement throw Labour’s rhetoric into sharp relief. It’s a reminder of just how severely Reform’s bigotry has poisoned the well of UK politics.

Featured image via the Canary

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