A senior Labour peer has called on Sir Keir Starmer to deploy the Royal Navy and drones in the English Channel to stop small boat crossings, declaring the current scale of illegal migration “completely out of order.”
Lord Glasman, founder of the socially conservative Blue Labour group, made the controversial demand as the number of migrants reaching Britain in small boats since Labour came to power passed 50,000 earlier this week – a milestone that has intensified pressure on the government’s immigration strategy.
Speaking to Tom Swarbrick on LBC, the influential peer said: “The first thing I’d do is put the Royal Navy in the English Channel to stop the boats.”
When pressed about where the intercepted boats would then go, Lord Glasman replied bluntly: “Just turn them back to France. What is the problem with being in France? France is a country that’s signed up to human rights.
He questioned the motivations of those making the dangerous crossing, asking: “Why are they leaving France? This is a very big question.”
The peer, who is viewed as an important voice within Labour and believed to have the ear of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, also suggested using drone technology to enhance maritime surveillance.
We could just send drones out as well and say, please turn back. We are under no obligation whatsoever to take the boat and it’s been going on for much too long, and there has to be immediate action on that,” he said.
Lord Glasman’s intervention comes as Sir Keir’s “one in, one out” deal with French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be struggling. Under the arrangement announced last month, Britain agreed to detain illegal migrants and send them back to France in return for taking a similar number of asylum seekers.
However, evidence suggests the scheme is already failing, with 50 per cent more migrants crossing the Channel since the deal was struck compared to the same period last year.
The Labour peer, who was the only party figure invited to Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, has emerged as one of the staunchest internal critics of Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
During his wide-ranging LBC interview, Lord Glasman also called for the abolition of the Treasury, saying: “I actually think the Treasury has outlived its function.”
He revealed he is “very” sympathetic to warnings about free speech issued by JD Vance, the US Vice-President, who said in a February keynote speech that mass migration and the erosion of free speech pose a greater threat to Britain than Russia.
When asked if he agreed that the biggest threat to Europe was an influx of “unvetted foreign migrants”, Lord Glasman said: “I don’t know if that’s the biggest threat to Europe, but as I’ve said to you, I consider it as a pretty bad thing.”
He added: “He’s also said some things about freedom of expression and freedom of speech that I’m quite sympathetic [to].”
The peer’s comments come as a US State Department report this week claimed there were “credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression” under Sir Keir’s government.
Lord Glasman has previously criticised the Conservatives’ failure to control borders, telling LBC in July that they had “urinated on their voters” and were now “irrelevant” as a political force.
I think it’s slowly dawning on them that they’re half dead and this is a great political party. They went to their worst defeat since 1832. I mean, this is cosmic,” he said.
The Blue Labour founder has consistently argued that immigration control should be treated as a national security issue, stating: “We don’t want these people coming in. They’re not welcome.”
His call for Royal Navy deployment echoes previous Conservative proposals but goes further in explicitly advocating for boats to be turned back to France – a move that would likely face significant legal and diplomatic challenges.
The Labour government’s main approach has focused on its promise to “smash the gangs” through increased enforcement, more cooperation with European police forces, and the creation of a new Border Security Command.
However, with crossings continuing at pace and the 50,000 milestone now passed, pressure is mounting on Sir Keir to adopt more radical measures to fulfil his pledge to tackle the small boats crisis.
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Image Credit (Shortened):
Official portrait of Lord Glasman – by Chris McAndrew, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. (Portrait taken March 2018)
