Angela Eagle: we don’t know how many undocumented migrants there are

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper admits relations with China are ‘a complex arrangement’

An alleged ‘Chinese spy’ with links to Prince Andrew, who also met David Cameron and Theresa May, has been banned from entering the UK on national security grounds. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper if the threat of sabotage and espionage is becoming more serious. Cooper admitted that the challenges around national security are more complex, with the prevalence of cyber attacks and the use of ‘criminal proxies’. The Home Secretary said the UK would ‘continue to take a very strong approach to our national security’, but admitted that the necessity of ‘economic cooperation’ meant that the UK’s relationship with China was complicated.

Yvette Cooper: UK has ‘a moral responsibility to go after those gangs’ 

In order to tackle illegal migration, Labour has pledged to destroy the people smuggling gangs that organise boat crossings. On the BBC this morning, Laura Kuenssberg asked Yvette Cooper if this policy is feasible – or radical enough to tackle the scale of the problem. Cooper argued that the criminal organisations that organise boat crossings have only developed over the past six years, and the UK has a responsibility to tackle them to prevent deaths in the Channel. Cooper claimed that it is possible to destroy the gangs, and suggested that stronger cross-border law enforcement and cooperation between countries was essential.

Angela Eagle: ‘It’s not possible to know how many undocumented migrants there are’

Over on Sky News, Border Security Minister Angela Eagle claimed Labour are returning many more immigrants who are here illegally. Trevor Phillips asked if Labour was merely continuing the work of the Conservatives, who had increased the number of returns. Angela Eagle suggested the government is ‘doubling down on it’, and had ‘far more people working on it’.

Eagle then admitted that an accurate count of undocumented migrants is impossible, telling Trevor Phillips: ‘we only know the ones we’ve come across’. Phillips argued that if there is no official number, ‘other people are going to suggest all sorts of numbers’. Eagle claimed that the UK publishes ‘more detailed statistics on migration… than any other country’, and said: ‘we know a lot, we just don’t know everything’. 

Kemi Badenoch: ‘This problem did not start because of the Conservatives. It’s happening everywhere.’

Over on GB News, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told Camilla Tominey that although she was in favour of a cap on migration, ‘culture matters more’. Badenoch claimed that we need to make sure people who come to the country ‘care about it’. She also said a ‘systemic review’ was needed before committing to a specific number for a migration cap. Tominey asked if Badenoch thought the OBR’s forecast of net migration of 350,000 a year was too much. Badenoch would not answer directly, but argued that ‘we are living in an era of global mass migration’, and said every country was having the same problems.

Andy Burnham: Reform ‘need to be held accountable for the consequences of their own policies’

Lastly, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham admitted that the issue of immigration was a political risk for Labour, but said he had ‘great confidence’ in Yvette Cooper. Burnham claimed that Reform had to be held to account for the ‘big lie of Brexit’: that it would strengthen immigration control. He suggested that Brexit has actually weakened control, because it damaged relationships between the UK and its neighbours. Burnham also said Brexit had changed the nature of immigration, with more immigrants coming from further afield and staying permanently, as opposed to Europeans who stay for a few years.