MIGRATION

Sir Keir Starmer’s latest gambit — signing a border security agreement with the People’s Republic of China to “help disrupt small boat supply lines” — is exactly the sort of puffed-up diplomatic bunting that gets politicians on the front pages but does very little for those staring out at the English Channel.

The government’s own press release proudly informs us that “more than half of the small boat engines used by people smugglers crossing the English Channel are manufactured in China”. In response, Number Ten has decided the best course of action is… to ask the Chinese authorities politely to please think about not letting spare parts for their engines fall into the wrong hands.

Pause for a moment and consider that. This is the flagship new policy from a Prime Minister who promised to “restore control” of the border: gently engaging a super-power, halfway across the world, to chat about small boat parts. It’s exactly the kind of earnest, internationalist gesture that might have a nice ring at Global Co-operation Summit number 47, but — for the families watching dinghies heave off French beaches into freezing waters — it is, at best, a symbolic gesture and, at worst, a distraction.

A government anxious to be seen to be doing something will naturally grasp at straws – sorry, “international deals” like this. There is, admittedly, something deeply theatrical about it: a solemn bilateral agreement with Beijing signed in the Great Hall that, in practice, amounts to asking foreign engineers to stiffen their bolts in future. The smuggling gangs aren’t listening to press releases, and, indeed, they are experts at adapting to enforcement tactics far closer to home.

Let’s be under no illusions: the supply of boat engines is a component — literally — of this crisis. But the idea that a handshake between London and Beijing will suddenly deprive criminal networks of their ability to source dinghies or outboard motors is about as credible as a weather forecast delivered with a drum roll. Smugglers are already adept at sourcing equipment from a host of jurisdictions; if one route is closed, another will open. They do not queue politely for customs at Shanghai port because the Foreign Secretary said so.

Meanwhile, the small boats continue to cross — thousands of them. Last year’s crossings were the second-highest on record, with tens of thousands of migrants making the perilous journey despite every government pronouncement. And here we are, clapping ourselves on the back for the prospect of an intelligence-sharing arrangement that might, in a very long and roundabout way, maybe marginally inconvenience some manufacturer’s supply chain.

This is what passes for victory? A new photo opportunity and a platitude from a press office that wants to believe it has secured “real results for the British people”.

If this really were 21st-century statesmanship of the bold and innovative kind, we might be hearing about effective bilateral arrangements with France and other frontline nations — agreements that actually prevent boats launching in the first place, or ensure swift and humane returns. The truth is that, on those fronts, progress has been halting at best. And asking China to monitor plumbing supplies hardly substitutes for a credible, enforceable border strategy.

And so we are left with a spectacle: a government desperate for headlines, seizing on the exotic allure of diplomacy with a global power thousands of miles away, while the core problem — migrants crossing an often lawless Channel — persists. At some point, even the Starmer spin machine must acknowledge that dazzling rhetoric about international cooperation does not equate to on-the-ground deterrence or results.

Time to Go?

It is no exaggeration to suggest that Sir Keir’s leadership now teeters between theatricality and irrelevance. If his flagship response to one of the country’s most pressing domestic concerns is to be found grinding through yet another overseas press release, then it may indeed be time for him to consider stepping aside — before he is, as the old political admonition goes, pushed.

A true leader would take responsibility for a strategy that has so far failed to stem the flow of illegal crossings. And if the only “solutions” on offer are headline-grabbers that won’t actually reduce migrant journeys by even a handful, then perhaps the Conservative criticisms — that Starmer is clutching at straws — are not mere partisan sniping but accurate assessments of the moment.

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