Germany has said it will tighten its laws to make it easier to prosecute those who help smuggle migrants into Britain, as part of a new plan agreed between the two countries.
Currently, facilitating human smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany when it comes to a third country outside the EU – which, post-Brexit, also includes Great Britain.
Under the new agreement, the Interior Ministry says Germany has pledged to make the activity a clear criminal offense.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the “groundbreaking” new deal would help tackle criminal gangs running small boat crossings across the Channel.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp has previously criticized the UK government’s approach, calling their plans to reduce the number of small boat crossings ‘weak and pointless’.
The deal between Britain and Germany comes as the Home Office’s Border Security Command warns that the Channel crossings are “the most dangerous they have ever been”.
Charlie Eastaugh, director of international operations at the command, told the BBC: “We have seen tire tubes being used instead of life jackets, it is extremely dangerous, they are death traps.
‘There are fewer boats and fewer engines available, we’ve seized over 450 boats and engines across Europe – and organized crime gangs are taking bigger risks.
“We are seeing more and more people in these boats because of the disruptive work we have been doing with our law enforcement partners in Europe.”
More than 33,000 have crossed the English Channel by small boat this year, up from 29,000 last year but down from record numbers in 2022.
More than 70 people have died trying to cross this year, and the average number of people per boat has risen to 53, up from 10 in 2019.
After coming to power in July, the Labor government abandoned the previous Conservative government’s plan to discourage the crossing by sending those making the journey to Rwanda.
Instead, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his government would focus on tackling the criminal gangs controlling border crossings.
As part of that approach, Interior Minister Yvette Cooper has signed an agreement with German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser committing to cooperate in tackling human smuggling.
Under the joint action plan, Germany has confirmed its intention to make it clear that activities in Germany that facilitate migrant smuggling into Britain will be considered criminal offences.
The joint action plan also commits the two countries to “exchange expertise with a special focus on removing migrant smuggling content from social media platforms.”
The UK government said: “Once in force, this expected change in the law is expected to significantly increase the number of prosecutions related to migrant smuggling.”
Earlier this year, the BBC investigated Germany’s connection to small boat crossings in the Channel with people smugglers operating in the western German city of Essen.
At the time, a UK Home Office source told the BBC that there was “frustration” with the German legal framework, which did not technically consider regulating people smuggling to countries outside the EU as illegal.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signs a new agreement with German Home Secretary Nancy Faeser [BBC]
Cooper said the partnership would help Britain go after the gangs who “got away with it for too long”.
Faeser said it would “help us put an end to the inhumane activities of criminal migrant smuggling organizations.”
“Many of these crimes were planned in Germany. Together we are now fighting this unscrupulous enterprise with even more determination.”
The plan was signed ahead of a Calais Group meeting in London on Tuesday hosted by Britain and Germany and attended by ministers and police from France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Sir Keir has said he wants to reduce both regular and irregular migration, but has avoided setting a target for reducing numbers, arguing an “arbitrary” limit would not work.
Privately, Labor ministers acknowledged that tackling irregular migration will be key to how they are judged by voters.
