Simply ‘smashing the gangs’ will not stop Channel crossing deaths | Letters

John Morrison says Labour’s mistake has been to follow the Conservatives in suggesting that one big idea will solve a complex issue The latest tragic deaths in the small boats crisis (Six children among 12 dead in Channel as crowded boat ‘ripped open’, 3 September) raise the question as to whether the Labour government’s approach to “smashing the gangs” will be sufficient. Labour was right to scrap the Rwanda plan of the previous government as being an expensive gimmick and to focus instead on the human smugglers and traffickers. Illegal migration is characterised by a variety of push and pull factors, as well as the nature of the migration process itself. While article 31 of the refugee convention recognises that refugees may sometimes need to resort to “irregular means” to reach protection, surrendering the whole migration process to criminal gangs is no solution at all, and leads to further exploitation once refugees and migrants reach the UK.