ILLEGAL migration is a security threat equivalent to terrorism, the Prime Minister said today as he aped Tory rhetoric.

Pouring cash and hardline language at the problem, Sir Keir Starmer announced an extra £75 million to police Britain’s borders.

Speaking at the global policing organisation Interpol’s conference in Glasgow, Sir Keir said that “people smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism.”

The new Border Security Command Labour is establishing would “treat people smugglers like terrorists,” he pledged.

The new cash will double the new command’s funding and will be used to hire hundreds of investigators and intelligence officers to tackle illegal Channel crossings.

They will have powers to trace suspected traffickers and to close down their bank accounts.

Sir Keir told the conference: “I was elected to deliver security for the British people. And strong borders are a part of that. But security doesn’t stop at our borders.

“There’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.

“This is a vile trade that must be stamped out — wherever it thrives. So we’re taking our approach to counter-terrorism — which we know works, and applying it to the gangs, with our new Border Security Command.”

He pledged to unite police, the Border Force and intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 in tackling the “small boats” crisis, which some say destabilised the last government.

“We’ve got to combine resources, share intelligence and tactics and tackle the problem upstream, working together to shut down the smuggling routes. We do that with terrorism,” he said.

However, the Prime Minister was swiftly told that his plan would not work.

The former head of immigration at British ports Kevin Saunders said “unfortunately what the prime minister is trying to do is not feasible.”

He said the new proposals would not deter illegal migrants from heading for Britain, nor would they stop attempted small boat crossings.

The government could only prosecute and jail people smugglers “in the UK and the majority of people smugglers are actually based in the Middle East and Turkey,” Mr Saunders argued.

Starmer did acknowledge the global dimensions of the problem, telling Interpol that he would “work with anyone serious who could offer solutions of this, anyone, because without co-ordinated global action, it will not go away.

“And unless we bring all the powers we have to bear on this in much the same way as we do for terrorism, then we will struggle to bring these criminals to justice.”

Government presentation of the question appeared inflammatory, as the Downing Street press release for the Prime Minister’s speech headlined “national security threat.” 

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “While we welcome the government’s commitment to tackle people smugglers, the best way to deal with deaths in the Channel is to adopt our Safe Passage policy that would create a safe and legal route for refugees to come to the UK and here begin their asylum claim.”

Small boat crossings are presently on the rise, with more than 27,500 people having made the dangerous passage across the Channel so far this year, more than in the same period in 2023.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attributed the high number of crossings last month to unusually fair weather.

However, she conceded that the government could not blame weather conditions alone for spikes in illegal immigration and had to “go after the criminal gangs at the heart of this.”

But she gave no indication as to when crossings might diminish, explaining that it would take time to get investigators and new technology in place, but the government wanted to make progress “as rapidly as possible.”

Despite hewing close to the Tory script on migration, the Conservatives, still sore at the abandonment of their inhumane and ineffective Rwanda deportation plan, denounced the new policy as lacking deterrent effect.

Starmer made it clear that he would never pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights, a key bugbear of the hard right.