The UK will develop a new sanctions regime to cripple people smuggling crime rings and starve them of illicit finance fuelling their operations.
In a major speech, the Foreign Secretary reveal plans to bring forward legislation for a new sanctions regime targeting irregular migration and organised immigration crime to secure UK borders in a decade of national renewal. As the world’s first standalone sanctions regime dedicated to targeting irregular migration and organised immigration crime, it will allow the UK to target individuals and entities enabling dangerous journeys.
As part of the Plan for Change, the government is committed to reducing small boat crossings and net migration and ending the routine use of asylum hotels, meeting our fiscal rules and strengthening national security.
The regime, which is expected to come into force within the year, will target organised immigration networks. Criminal networks are making huge profits exploiting vulnerable people by facilitating irregular migratory movements, including dangerous sea crossings across Europe.
Sanctions experts from across government will work with law enforcement and operational Home Office colleagues to deliver an effective and targeted regime that stems finance flows at their source and deters smugglers from profiting off the trafficking of innocent people.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “We must dismantle the crime gangs facilitating breaches of our borders. By crippling illicit finance rings allowing smugglers to traffic vulnerable people across Europe, we will deliver on our Plan for Change and secure UK borders. That means being bold and innovative in our policy making to ensure we are leaving no stone unturned. My government will do everything in our power to save lives and protect our borders for years to come.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “It is completely unrealistic to combat irregular migration without a role for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It is an issue which ties together the foreign and the domestic most acutely.”
As mentioned in the statement, the Foreign Office expects to collaborate closely with international allies to combat people smugglers. It builds on months of work with partners by this government, including through the UK-hosted European Political Community in July, hosting the Calais Group, bringing together ministers from France, Belgium and the Netherlands alongside EU agencies, improved working with countries like Moldova, Iraq and Vietnam on returns, and announcing a new anti-Smuggling Action Plan signed with other G7 nations.
